ICE Acting Director Says Assaults On Agents Up 1000% As Dallas Facility Targeted In Shooting: ‘Never Seen Anything Like This’
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons warned that assaults on ICE officers are up more than 1000% following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility.
Lyons joined CNN’s John Berman on Wednesday morning for what turned into a conversation focused on the Dallas shooting, which occurred that morning. According to authorities, multiple people were shot, and two are dead, including the gunman. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities said no officers were injured in the shooting, but did not confirm reports that the victims shot were detainees. Reports have suggested the victims were shot while inside a transport van.
Berman asked Lyons about the current “environment” around ICE as large recruitment efforts are underway, and Lyons explained he’s experiencing a blowback to law enforcement that he’s never seen before.
He said:
You know, I’ve never seen anything like this in my law enforcement career. I’ve never seen threats on law enforcement, specifically ICE, increased the way it is. You know, we’re up over 1,000% assaults on officers right now. And really just a lot of the talk that’s out there, a lot of the rhetoric is just the violence directed towards law enforcement officers just trying to do their job. And it just keeps — we just keeping seeing an increase step by step.
You know, like I said, we had that shooting at the El Dorado facility, which is right outside Dallas, July 4th, where they ambushed officers in military tactical gear under the guise of fireworks. And now we have this, and it just seems like it keeps getting worse and worse, and it has to stop.
The Dallas facility that was targeted by a shooter faced a bomb threat in August, leading to a man’s arrest. A DHS official warned at the time about the major increase in violence against ICE agents this year.
The motives of the shooter are not yet known, but the FBI has revealed “early evidence” suggesting an “ideological motive.” FBI Director Kash Patel shared an image of rounds found near the shooter. One was engraved with “anti-ICE” as a message.
Watch above via CNN.
