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Wave of car attacks on ICE agents follows incendiary rhetoric from target-city leaders
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A surge in car-rammings and other assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during targeted operations in California, Illinois and North Carolina has coincided with sharp criticism from local and state leaders against federal officers.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security reported a 1,300% increase in vehicular attacks on ICE since President Donald Trump took office, and a 58% spike against CBP officers in that same time period.
There were only two vehicular rammings of ICE agents in particular – during former President Joe Biden’s final year in office. His administration also did not conduct fervent, targeted immigration raids at the same scale or frequency, according to reports.
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In comments to Fox News Digital on Friday, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said:
“Since January 20, there have been 99 vehicle attacks against DHS law enforcement, a 1,000% increase in assaults against them, and an 8,000% increase in death threats to ICE officers. Make no mistake: The uptick in these kinds of attacks is being fueled by the constant demonization of ICE and CBP officers by Democrat politicians. They need to knock it off before they get one of our officers killed.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose city was targeted second after Los Angeles, has repeatedly labeled Trump a racist and characterized ICE agents as terrorists.
As recently as this week, Johnson told a podcast – in a report aired by Sky News – that “attacks” on illegal immigrants and targets of the Trump administration have the same characteristics as the priorities of antebellum freedmen.
“We know that the intentional attacks that are coming from the Trump administration and the extreme right in this country has very much been what I call an attempt to relitigate the Civil War,” Johnson said.
“They have not accepted the results that the North actually won.”
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents clashed with protesters in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday, July 8. (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement via X)
Johnson said that Trump is also politically targeting education, housing, transportation, jobs and health care, which he said were “literally the five demands of descendants of slaves.”
During the Civil War, however, the Confederacy was led largely by Democrats of that era, including President Jefferson Davis, Vice President Alexander Stephens and officers like Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who later became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
During the heat of immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, Johnson railed against the missions, describing scenes from the streets as “what terrorism looks like.”
Johnson also set up what he called “ICE-free zones” and in one instance, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was denied the use of a restroom at the Broadview, Ill., city hall just outside Chicago proper.
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Noem blamed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for the conditions that led to the incident, saying it is an example of how the Democrat “and his cronies treat our law enforcement — Absolutely shameful.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also spoke out during ICE operations in her city, saying, “These tactics sow terror in our communities.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was caught on video shouting questions at Noem during a press conference.
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Noem later claimed Padilla “lunged” at her, which resulted in various analyses of video of the confrontation.
Padilla was quickly tackled by Noem’s security detail, and later commented on the incident, saying that if his treatment is how the Trump administration deals with a “senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers” on the immigration enforcement front.
California Attorney General Robert Bonta publicly called the actions of ICE and CBP during its Los Angeles operations “part of a cruel and familiar pattern of attacks on our immigrant communities by an administration that thrives on fear and division.”
“We won’t be silent. We won’t back down. We will continue to hold the federal government accountable when it violates the Constitution and federal law,” Bonta said in a July 7 statement.
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On Friday, DHS announced another arrest of a car-ramming suspect, with officials alleging Mexican national Roberto Galeana-Guatemala struck and seriously injured an officer with his vehicle when ICE was attempting to arrest him in National City, California.
Galeana-Guatemala was charged Friday with the assault as well as one count of being a removed alien who again entered the U.S. illegally.
McLaughlin said the incident marked roughly the 100th vehicle attack on ICE personnel since Trump took office.
After a recent case in which critics claimed DHS “kidnapped” a teenager, McLaughlin said the boy had been part of a group throwing rocks at officers who themselves were targets of another vehicle ramming attack.
She suggested rhetoric from critics over the incident was yet another accelerant on the political fire causing such attacks:
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“A U.S. teenager was arrested for assaulting law enforcement in Chicago — any claims that CBP ‘kidnapped’ a U.S. citizen and held him in a warehouse are bizarre and categorically false,” she said.
“These are more disgusting smears peddled by the media and billboard law firms. This attack is not an isolated incident, and it reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest, and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers.”
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Grant’s Monday Night Forecast
Temperatures will heat up across New Mexico through Tuesday, with near-record highs possible in parts of the state. Highs cool slightly starting Wednesday, with a few spotty showers possible later this week.
High pressure is building toward New Mexico to start the week, bringing hotter temperatures statewide. The center of that high will move over the state Tuesday, making it the hottest day of the week. Highs will climb into the 80s and 90s for most areas, with several spots coming within a few degrees of tying or breaking daily record highs.
The high starts to weaken Wednesday, but temperatures will only cool by a few degrees. Moisture will also begin streaming into New Mexico, bringing more cloud cover and a chance for a few spotty showers or areas of evaporating rain, mainly across northern New Mexico. By Thursday, that spotty rain chance shifts into eastern New Mexico.
Temperatures will stay above average to well above average through the end of the week and into the weekend, with most highs remaining in the 80s and 90s. Afternoon breezes will also stick around most days over the next week.
CENTRAL OREGON (KTVZ) — New rules approved by Oregon regulators aimed at how utilities charge large energy users are expected to have implications beyond Portland General Electric, including for Central Oregon customers served by Pacific Power.
The Oregon Public Utility Commission approved changes allowing Portland General Electric to charge higher rates to large energy users such as data centers. The goal is to ensure those customers pay for the cost of expanding the power grid, rather than shifting those costs onto smaller or household ratepayers.
The move comes after six consecutive years of rate increases for Oregon customers, driven in part by what PGE describes as an unprecedented rise in electricity demand, with data centers as a major factor.
Under the new rules, large energy use facilities must pay 100% of the cost to expand distribution systems needed to serve them. They must also use at least 90% of their contracted power capacity, with requirements for contract lengths and penalties for exceeding usage or exiting early.
The rules define large energy users as facilities capable of drawing more than 20 megawatts of power at a time. A separate category for “very large loads” — those exceeding 100 megawatts — includes a 1 cent per kilowatt-hour surcharge, with funds going toward reducing energy burden for vulnerable customers.
The order also includes a queue system to ensure new large users can only connect when enough zero-emission energy is available to meet demand under House Bill 2021.
While the decision directly applies to PGE, Pacific Power is proposing a similar approach for customers in Central Oregon.
PacifiCorp exclusively sent a statement to KTVZ News, saying utilities have seen a growing number of extremely large new load requests in recent years, requiring significant investments in transmission and generation infrastructure.
The company has filed a proposed tariff with the Oregon Public Utility Commission under House Bill 3546 to create a new rate schedule for “New Large Energy Use Facilities.” Under the proposal, large energy users such as data centers would be required to cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades needed to serve them.
PacifiCorp said the approach would allow the utility to meet the needs of large energy users while continuing to invest in infrastructure and protecting affordability for other customer classes.
PGE has until June 3 to file a new pricing system to implement the order, which would take effect June 10. The utility is also required to begin annual reporting on large energy users starting June 1, 2027.
A Utah physician is warning that 21 data centers in various stages of development could significantly worsen air quality along the Wasatch Front.
Dr. Brian Moench, with Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said the planned data centers are cause for alarm. Each facility is expected to generate its own electricity using natural gas power plants.
While natural gas is cleaner than coal, Moench said it still produces nitrogen oxide, which contributes significantly to ozone, particulate formation, and smog.
“There’s no safe level of air pollution. All of it is harmful, even at the very lowest doses,” Moench said.
Moench said health advocates have legitimate reasons to be concerned about what the facilities could mean for public health in the region.
“There is a real legitimate concern on the part of any health advocates about what this impact will mean to the Wasatch Front and public health if all these data centers are built or even if just a few of them are, and that’s not to address the impact on the Great Salt Lake shrinking up and becoming a toxic dust bowl. That’s the next leg of this argument,” he said.
Moench also raised concerns about electronic waste. As computer chips and equipment become obsolete and are replaced, he said the volume of e-waste produced is something no one has yet addressed.
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This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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