ICE agents flee arson attack in Washington state

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have escaped an arson attack at a federal office in Yakima, Washington, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
A 'cowardly rioter' on Saturday threw a rock through a window of the ICE field office and then started a 'small fire' at the back of the building, DHS said in a statement Tuesday.
No one was injured in the attack and law enforcement is investigating the incident as an act of arson.
'It is unclear if our brave ICE law enforcement were the targets of these violent acts. From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale,' the DHS statement read.
'Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to harm law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.'
The Independent has contacted DHS for more information on the incident.
A photo, shared by DHS, shows smoke billowing over a fence and flames on the ground. Another image shows broken glass and a dented wall, with a rock lying on the ground.
As detentions and deportations have become a fixture of Trump's second term, attacks against immigration authorities have been on the rise.
ICE officials have faced a 830 percent increase in assaults from January 21 to July 14 compared with the same period in 2024, DHS announced last month.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blamed Democrats, naming several high-profile lawmakers, for 'contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,' in a statement to The Independent . The New York Post first reported the incident.
Last month, 11 people dressed in tactical gear executed what prosecutors called an 'organized attack' outside of an ICE detention center near Fort Worth, Texas. One of the alleged defendants fired 20 to 30 rounds at unarmed correctional officers who had stepped outside the facility, prosecutors say. Another allegedly shot an Alvarado police officer in the neck; he has since been discharged from the hospital. Ten of the 11 now face charges of attempted murder.
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to deliver the 'largest deportation operation in American history.'
As the Trump administration set a lofty target of 3,000 arrests per day, ICE's tactics — like plainclothes and masked agents arresting international students on the street — have drawn criticism and rattled communities across the country.
Those tactics appear to change based on the state. In red states, about 60 percent of immigration arrests have taken place in prisons and jails, while 70 percent of arrests in blue states took place in the wider community, according to a CNN analysis.