Fireworks and AR-15s used in July 4 ambush on ICE agents, leading to 10 arrests

USA Today

6 days ago

A group of at least 10 people attacked an ICE detainment facility in Texas, leaving one cop with a gunshot wound to the neck. Newly unveiled court filings reveal what went into the attack.
Ten people have been charged in connection with a coordinated attack on a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) facility in Texas that left a police officer with a gunshot wound to the neck, Justice Department officials announced July 8.
The group launched the attack on the Prairieland Detention Center outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on July 4, according to federal court filings. They dressed in "black military-style clothing" and started by launching fireworks at the facility, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Attackers came wearing body armor, two-way radios and AR-style rifles, prosecutors said. They fired dozens of rounds at the facility and left after covering buildings and cars with graffiti slogans including "traitor" and "ICE Pig."
"Make no mistake, this was not a peaceful protest," said Nancy E. Larson, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas where the case was filed. "This was an ambush on federal and local law enforcement officers. This increasing trend of violence against law enforcement will not be tolerated in the Northern District of Texas."
The Independence Day attack near Alvarado, Texas comes amid a 700% increase in assaults on immigration agents, according to White House officials. Recent attacks include an accused Tren de Aragua gang member throwing a female ICE agent to the ground and choking her in Nebraska, according to court documents.
Attacks on immigration officials also come as President Donald Trump ramps up a mass deportation campaign that has seen masked agents leave suspects terrified around the country. Administration officials say bold tactics are needed to repel what they call an "invasion" of immigrants.
An Alvarado Police Department officer was shot in the neck in the attack and flown to a nearby hospital, said the city's police chief Teddy May. He is "recovering nicely," said May, adding he was grateful no one else was hurt.
"Sometimes we get lucky and we'll take it," the top cop told USA TODAY. "When you hear someone was treated and released, you can think it must not have been much but I will tell you that was far from the case— that was a substantial wound he received and he was lucky that he could get it taken care of so quickly."
The 10 accused in the attack near Alvarado, Texas are: Cameron Arnold; Savannah Batten; Nathan Baumann; Zachary Evetts; Joy Gibson; Bradford Morris; Maricela Rueda; Seth Sikes; Elizabeth Soto; and Ines Soto. They are all Texas residents, court filings show.
Charges against them are three counts of attempted murder of a federal officer and three counts of using a firearm in committing a violent crime.
Attorneys for the group could not be reached.
An attack on Independence Day
The attack started at around 10:30 p.m. and ended with attackers firing around 30 rounds at the Alvarado officer called to respond to the scene and two officers working at the federal facility, court filings say.
They began by firing fireworks at the facility and spray painting graffiti on at least one building connected to the facility and two cars, according to a federal complaint.
Investigators found multiple AR-style rifles on the attackers, two-way radios and a dozen sets of body armor. Authorities believe there were 12 attackers. Alvarado police chief May declined to comment on the investigation into additional assailants.
Morris, one of 10 arrested, told police he met the group online and agreed to drive some from Dallas to "make some noise" at the facility, according to the Justice Department.
Police also found fliers on the group reading "Fight ICE terror with class war" and "Free all political prisoners," authorities said.
They also found a device used to block cell phone signals known as a Faraday bag. The device is "commonly used by criminal actors to try to prevent law enforcement from tracking location information," court documents say.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation search of one of the attackers' apartments uncovered "anti-government propaganda," authorities said. Among the fliers was one titled "Organizing for attack! Insurrection anarchy."
"Violence, threats of violence, and attempts of vandalism at our ICE Facilities will not deter our officers at ICE from fulfilling their duties," said Josh Johnson, a director at the immigration agency's Dallas office. "This type of vigilante lawlessness is emblematic of the dangers federal, state, and local law enforcement officials face every day."
What to know about the facility?
The facility at the center of the attack is located about 40 miles southwest of Dallas and is among the Department of Homeland Security's newest, according to Chavez & Valko, an immigration law firm based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
It is one of four immigration detainment facilities in Texas and was built to house over 700 detainees, according to a fact sheet published by the law firm.
Immigration officials did not respond to requests to comment.
An unprecedented spike in violence
The Fourth of July attack in Texas comes as White House officials say there's been a 700% increase in assaults on immigration agents. Administration officials declined to answer USA TODAY's questions about the numbers underlying the increase, including the number of injuries and their severity. However, DHS told FOX News there have been 79 agent assaults since Trump took office, through June 30, compared with 10 assaults during the same period a year ago.
Many of the attacks have happened as immigration authorities deploy new tactics to carry out the president's sweeping mass deportation plan, including masked agents detaining people outside Home Depot and immigrants showing up for mandatory court appointments.
Policing experts say the aggressive approach is provoking unnecessarily dangerous encounters.
Bystander videos have captured agents wrestling suspects to the ground on crowded streets and chasing them through farm fields. One widely circulated video showed an agent grabbing a U.S. citizen by the neck in a Walmart parking lot as he resisted being taken; federal prosecutors charged the man with assault after he allegedly punched an agent.
Trump, who has promised to deport 1 million immigrants this year, ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest mass deportation program in history."
Mounting resistance to ICE agents
But there's growing pushback from the public. Recent immigration sweeps in the Los Angeles area sparked widespread protests and small riots downtown, as people threw rocks at law enforcement and set patrol vehicles on fire, and federal agents responded with tear gas and pepper spray.
In some cases, federal agents are getting into shoving matches with crowds trying to film or stop what they consider to be overzealous detentions, especially when the masked agents refuse to identify themselves.
"The aggressive police tactics being employed by the federal government are causing the issue," said longtime police supervisor Diane Goldstein, who now directs the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, which has spent decades working to develop trust between the public and police.
She added: "Their direction and their leadership is directly putting them in a horrific situation."
Contributing: Lauren Villagran and Trevor Hughes