The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that what it described as dangerous political rhetoric targeting immigration enforcement is contributing to a sharp rise in assaults on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, DHS officials said the rhetoric has helped produce "a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against our brave ICE law enforcement" and urged the media and political actors to stop language that they called "demonizing" to DHS personnel. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "This hateful rhetoric is contributing to political violence in our country," and added, "We have to turn down the temperature before someone else is killed."
DHS cited the murder of Charlie Kirk in Utah as "the evil act of political violence witnessed… last week" and said that two "brutal assaults" on agents during attempted captures of immigration suspects had resulted in severe injuries to officers. The agency provided Fox News Digital with an accounting of violent incidents it says are part of the trend, including a group of armed men who surveilled a facility in Texas, a gunman who opened fire at a Border Patrol annex in McAllen, Texas, and an alleged attempt by a woman in Maine to run over a federal agent during an arrest.
In the McAllen incident, DHS said law enforcement "acted heroically to stop the shooter before there was any loss of life," though three people were reported injured. The department also cited multiple other episodes in which suspects caused harm to agents or damage to property.
DHS identified a range of recent public statements it said have inflamed tensions toward immigration enforcement. The examples provided to Fox News Digital included Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who said she equates ICE to "slave patrols," and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who described the agency as the "modern-day Gestapo." The department also flagged comments by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker comparing aspects of U.S. policy to practices in Nazi Germany, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's reference to masked extremist groups, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' vow to "fight" the president's agenda "in the streets," and an incident in which Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., shouted that immigration enforcement was acting like the "S.S." and the Gestapo.
The department said it was presenting the examples to demonstrate a pattern of what it called "demonization" of DHS personnel and urged news organizations, left-leaning groups and sanctuary-city officials to alter their rhetoric. "DHS is calling on the media, leftist groups, and sanctuary politicians to end their demonizing DHS law enforcement," the agency said in the statement.
Officials did not provide a detailed methodology for the percentage increase cited in the statement. The department's summary to Fox News Digital included multiple incidents from across the country and described injuries to officers and property damage associated with some confrontations.
Advocates for immigrant rights and some lawmakers have argued that public criticism of ICE and other enforcement agencies is part of democratic oversight and public debate about immigration policy. Lawmakers and local officials accused in the DHS release did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital in the material released alongside the department's remarks.
The agency's communication follows broader national debates over immigration enforcement and the safety of federal officers amid heightened political polarization and recent high-profile acts of political violence. DHS said it aims to "turn down the temperature" and reiterated a call for civility in public discourse to reduce the risk of further attacks on enforcement personnel.