Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Monday that activists against the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal aliens have been targeting the children of ICE agents.
"My officers and agents are enforcing immigration law," Lyons said in a video posted on ICE's X account. "They are not secret police. They are not Nazis. But people hiding behind keyboards are dehumanizing them, they're doxxing them, stirring up anti-ICE sentiment, and putting their lives and their families' lives at risk."
Democrats and left-wing activists opposed to President Donald Trump's policy of mass deportations have complained about ICE agents wearing masks while arresting illegal immigrants.
The video included a recent social media post by Cynthia Gonzalez, the vice mayor of Cudahy, California, who appeared to suggest that violent street gangs in Los Angeles stand up and organize against immigration raids. It also included a TikTok post from a person who said, "You can kill them. This isn't about social media clout anymore. This isn't about video. This isn't about the phone. This is about get a gun and start killing ICE agents."
The FBI reportedly is investigating Gonzalez's call to gang members in the now-deleted post to defend their "hoods" from ICE agents.
"Wouldn't you wear a mask if it kept your family safe, if it kept your kids safe," Lyons said. "We ran an operation with the Secret Service where we arrested someone that was going online, taking their [ICE agents'] photos, posting their families, their kids' Instagram, their kids' Facebooks, and targeting them.
"So, let me ask, is that the issue here, that we're just upset about the masks, or is anyone upset with the fact that ICE officers' families were labeled terrorists?"
The Department of Homeland Security said in a June 20 news release that ICE agents are facing a 500% increase in assaults against them during immigration enforcement operations. DHS also said in the release that, "disturbingly, in recent days, ICE officers' family members have been doxed and targeted as well. Those who dox our ICE agents will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.