Their silence is deafening.
While Democrats have been quick to vilify ICE agents, they’ve been slow to condemn extremists’ reported attempts to murder ICE agents.
“After running an around the clock hate campaign on our border patrol and ICE agents, it’s no surprise that Democrats are now silent when the very people trying to keep our communities safe are attacked,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Tuesday in a statement to The Federalist. “It’s despicable, and it’s time they take responsibility for not only allowing millions of illegal immigrants to enter the country under the Biden Administration, but for demonizing the ICE agents who are simply enforcing the law.”
Democrats have done a lot of demonizing thus far in President Donald Trump’s second term. But their overheated rhetoric on the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the southern border and clean up the illegal immigration mess left by the previous administration has plunged into incendiary.
As attacks on immigration law enforcers escalate, are ICE-hating Democrats complicit in the violence?
‘Planned Ambush’
Eleven people have been charged in the July 4 attack on the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. The facility, used by Immigration & Customs Enforcement, was allegedly hit by an Antifa terror cell armed with numerous guns, communication radios, and body armor.
As my Federalist colleague Beth Brelje wrote Tuesday, investigators found members of the group with printed fliers that included messages such as “Organising for Attack! INSURRECTIONARY ANARCHY,” according to the criminal complaint. A police officer was shot in the neck in what the Department of Justice has described as a “planned ambush.” The officer has since been released from the hospital.
This week, Michigan resident Ryan Louis Mosqueda opened fire on Border Patrol agents in McAllen, Texas, according to police. Law enforcement officers fatally shot the gunman, armed with tactical gear and a rifle. Authorities described that attack as an ambush. A McAllen police officer was shot in the leg; a Border Patrol officer and staffer were also hurt, the Department of Homeland Security reported.
While accomplice media outlets initially buried the story of what appears to be an actual insurrection at the Prairieland facility, outraged Republicans say their colleagues on the left have lit the fire on the growing violence against U.S. Border Patrol and ICE officers. They say Democrats have stood in solidarity with violent illegal immigrants while painting federal immigration enforcement officers as Nazis and terrorists.
‘Inspiring’ Obstruction
In a May commencement speech, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s failed vice-presidential candidate, likened ICE to Trump’s “modern-day Gestapo.” Far-left Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, called ICE a “terrorist force” in a recent Instagram post. The “Squad” member says she finds it “inspiring” when people break the law to disrupt ICE operations.
“Some of the most inspiring things have been when people encircle courtrooms and refuse to allow ICE agents in,” Jayapal said during a conversation with Joy Reid on Friday’s episode of The Joy Reid Show. “There are all kinds of nonviolent resistance tactics that we have to use.”
How she feels about the violent attacks on the Texas facilities isn’t clear. But acting ICE director Todd Lyons recently reminded America where Jayapal has stood.
“An actual Antifa terrorist tried to blow up ICE’s Northwest Processing Center in Rep. Jayapal’s home state of Washington in 2019. At the time, she tried to blame the violent attack on rhetoric from the right, in defense of an actual terrorist who tried to murder detainees and employees alike!” Lyons said in a statement. “Now, she labels ICE officers enforcing immigration law set by Congress ‘terrorists.’”
Lyons added that the failure of the Democratic Party to, as its members like to say, “turn down the temperature” of political discourse, comes as officers are facing a nearly 700 percent increase in assaults.
In some cases, the political rage has gone beyond incendiary rhetoric. U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, is facing felony assault charges. She’s accused of assaulting two federal officers at an unauthorized protest led by Democrats that turned disorderly. Democratic congressional leaders were quick to condemn Trump and ICE officials in what they characterized as an assault on democracy.
Silence Follows Violence
Department of Homeland Security officials have urged Democrats to tone down the explosive rhetoric. A good start would be for liberals to condemn the attacks on law enforcement officials. But Dem leadership can’t seem to bring themselves to do so.
The office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not return The Federalist’s request for comment. Neither did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, nor Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. And Gov. Tim Walz? Nothing. His office did not respond Tuesday to a Federalist email asking if the governor has any plans to condemn the attacks, or whether he regrets comparing ICE agents to the gestapo.
Jeffries did jump on the show where reason goes to die to blame Trump for, well, everything.
“We are seeing an unprecedented flood of extremism being unleashed on the American people, and it’s happened from the very beginning,” the Democratic leader told the unhinged hosts of The View, blasting Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill for significantly bolstering funding for ICE and Border Patrol operations.
‘Protecting Public Safety Shouldn’t Be Controversial’
And what of the radicals who surprised law enforcement officials on Independence Day in Alvarado, Texas? Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, at a press conference said one assailant “shot 20 to 30 rounds at these unarmed corrections officers.”
“There was an AR-style rifle found at the scene”, Larson said, noting the gun had jammed. Investigators found a flag declaring “Resist fascism, fight oligarchy,” and flyers urging, “Fight ICE” near the center.
That’s the same kind of radical language we’ve heard at anti-ICE rallies in recent months, including the riotous protests in Los Angeles. And the elder statesman of the Democratic Party’s full tilt left, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has spent a lot of time in the opening months of Trump 2.0 on a “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” in which he has raged against deportations of illegal immigrants.
Late last month, just seven House Democrats voted for a resolution condemning the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.
“Peaceful protests are a constitutional right, but vandalism, looting, violence, and other crimes are not. Protecting public safety shouldn’t be controversial, which is why I am leading the California Republican delegation in a resolution to support law and order as we continue to see unrest,” Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, said in a statement. “I hope Governor Newsom can come together with President Trump to stop the riots, lower the temperature, and keep our communities safe.”
Of course Newsom and his fellow Democrats won’t do that. They can’t. They’re much too busy standing with violent illegal immigrants and radicals and vilifying law enforcement officials.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
