Recent attacks on ICE agents and facilities, marked by encrypted communications, military-style tactics, and organized community defense networks, signal a dangerous escalation in anti-enforcement activity that increasingly resembles domestic insurgency. Federal officials report that assaults on immigration officers have surged more than 800% compared to the same period last year, underscoring what they describe as a coordinated national campaign.
The scale, planning, and intent behind this growing movement to target and disrupt U.S. immigration enforcement has alarmed officials, prompting ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons to warn, “I’m very scared because of all the threats and the rhetoric… I’m going to lose an ICE agent or officer because of this craziness that’s going on.”
Across the country, anti-ICE groups have formed sophisticated cells that plan and execute calculated attacks using reconnaissance, secure messaging apps, and interference operations to obstruct federal enforcement.
The Prairieland attack near Fort Worth stands out for its precision and scale. On the night of July 4, a group of 10–12 assailants in black tactical gear used fireworks to draw officers out of the facility. Two shooters hidden in a nearby tree line opened fire, wounding a local police officer. Court documents describe the attackers’ use of body armor, two-way radios, Faraday bags, and flyers reading “FIGHT ICE WITH CLASS TERROR.” Officials say the level of coordination and planning was unlike anything previously seen in immigration-related violence.
Planning was conducted via encrypted Signal groups, where attackers shared surveillance photos, coordinated logistics, and later discussed destroying evidence and evading arrest. Eleven people have been charged, including ten with attempted murder of federal officers. The lead suspect, Benjamin Hanil Song, a former U.S. Marine reservist, allegedly purchased several rifles used in the assault.
After the attack, Song was hidden by group members and moved between safe houses before being captured in Dallas following an 11-day manhunt. During the search, authorities uncovered extensive evidence of planning, including body armor, tactical vests, loaded weapons, and digital communications coordinating Song’s escape.
Two others, John Phillip Thomas and Lynette Read Sharp, were charged with helping Song flee. Thomas, a close associate and member of the same Signal chats, admitted to meeting with other suspects to coordinate Song’s getaway and was found with clothing purchased in Song’s size and a loaded AR-15 magazine in his vehicle.
Just days after the Prairieland attack, a 27-year-old gunman opened fire on a Border Patrol facility in McAllen, Texas, wounding multiple officers before being killed by return fire. That same day, federal agents were assaulted at an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, where rioters deployed an incendiary device. While not directly connected, these incidents signal a broader, escalating pattern of political violence against immigration authorities.
Beyond direct violence, organized resistance to immigration enforcement has become increasingly structured and strategic. In cities like Los Angeles, activist networks operate surveillance teams, monitor ICE activity at day-labor sites, and use encrypted apps like Signal and Telegram to coordinate real-time responses, legal observers, and blockades. These networks distribute materials, record raids, and in some cases, physically obstruct federal operations.
Federal authorities have responded by expanding prosecutions to include those providing logistical or material support, even in non-violent roles, such as distributing protective gear, attempting to identify masked ICE agents, or aiding individuals fleeing arrest. Some elected officials have also faced legal consequences for allegedly obstructing ICE.
Former ICE officials note that the agency’s large-scale raids now resemble military operations, with agents in tactical gear, unmarked SUVs, armored vehicles, drones, and roadblocks. As both enforcement and resistance escalate in complexity and intensity, immigration has become a flashpoint for a new kind of domestic conflict which crosses the line between protest and insurgency.
DHS officials blame “crazed rhetoric from gutter politicians” for inciting violence against immigration authorities. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders have condemned ICE tactics as heavy-handed, with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz calling the agency a “modern-day Gestapo” and Senator Alex Padilla accusing the Trump administration of making ICE “more aggressive, more cruel, more extreme.”
Critics point to alleged racial profiling and wrongful detentions of U.S. citizens, prompting Rep. Pramila Jayapal to introduce legislation barring ICE from detaining or deporting citizens. However, no U.S. citizens have been deported, and the few detentions that did occur were brief, typically resolved once citizenship was confirmed, or involved individuals arrested for interfering with enforcement actions. As for claims of racial profiling, the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. are Latino, so arrests and deportations will naturally reflect that demographic. That’s not racial profiling, it’s statistical probability.
Despite claims that ICE is targeting grandmothers and innocents, the Prairieland Detention Center held over 1,000 detainees on the night of the attack, including individuals convicted of serious crimes such as rape, child molestation, murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, and terrorism. Among them were nearly 50 members of transnational gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as well as 13 known or suspected terrorists.
In response to rising violence and resistance, the Trump administration secured $75 billion to expand ICE operations, build new detention centers, and hire thousands of new agents.
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