ICE and their families regularly receive death threats and other abuse
Executive summary
Yes — multiple government statements and reporting indicate that ICE officers and their families have been the targets of threats, doxxing and harassment, and DHS says those incidents have surged since early 2025; independent coverage and advocacy groups place that rise against a backdrop of deadly enforcement actions and nationwide protests [1] [2] [3]. At the same time, critics and civil‑liberties advocates frame much public hostility as a reaction to documented ICE uses of force and expanded enforcement, and independent verification of the exact counts and context of threats beyond DHS releases is limited in the available reporting [4] [5] [6].
1. DHS’s claim: dramatic increases in assaults, vehicular attacks and death threats
The Department of Homeland Security has publicly released statistics it says document extraordinary spikes — a roughly 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,200% rise in vehicular attacks and an 8,000% jump in death threats against ICE law‑enforcement personnel when comparing 2025 to 2024 — language the agency has used repeatedly in press statements to describe risk to officers [1] [7] [5]. DHS has amplified those figures in multiple releases and framed them as evidence that “radical rhetoric” and sanctuary politics have empowered violence and threats against federal agents [1].
2. Concrete examples DHS and other outlets cite: doxxing, harassing messages and home targeting
DHS and its Office of Professional Responsibility have cited specific incidents — from online doxxing and livestreams that posted an officer’s home address to direct telephone messages describing violent outcomes for officers’ families — and highlighted prosecutions tied to those actions, along with a reported case where three women were indicted for livestreaming pursuit of an ICE agent to his home and posting his address [2]. DHS also referred to social‑media messages received by spouses and to Halloween displays and effigies intended to intimidate agents’ families [2].
3. Independent reporting: protests, shootings and a fraught public climate
Mainstream outlets document a volatile public scene in which deadly encounters involving ICE have triggered mass protests and sustained outrage — for example, reporting on the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good, which set off nationwide demonstrations and planning of over 1,000 actions — and that context helps explain heightened threats and confrontations around enforcement operations [8] [3] [4]. Reuters and The Guardian detail how spikes in enforcement, deaths in custody and video circulation of operations have intensified public anger, which opponents say sometimes crosses into threats and harassment [6] [3].
4. Advocacy voices and civil‑liberties groups: accountability, not incitement
Immigrant‑rights organizations and watchdogs do not deny threats against officers but emphasize the record of harm and deaths in ICE custody as the central problem driving protests, arguing that calls for abolishing or reforming ICE respond to systemic abuses such as inadequate care and a recent rise in detention deaths [9] [4]. These groups and legal experts often dispute framing that equates critical rhetoric with encouragement of violence, urging focus on accountability for agency conduct [9] [10].
5. Political framing and potential agendas shaping the narrative
The DHS figures and rhetoric come from an administration and agency invested in restoring and expanding immigration enforcement; those releases frame threats to officers as evidence of lawlessness and to justify enforcement programs and funding increases, while critics insist the same messaging can be used to delegitimize protest and deflect scrutiny of border‑ and detention‑policy outcomes [7] [5] [2]. Conversely, local officials and advocates who denounce ICE actions have political incentives to spotlight abuses and mobilize public opposition, complicating purely quantitative readings of “regular” threats [8] [3].
6. Assessment and limits of available reporting
Based on DHS statements and reporting in major outlets, there is clear documentary evidence that ICE personnel and some family members have been doxxed, harassed and in some cases threatened with death, and DHS reports very large percentage increases; however, independent, centralized datasets validating the precise counts, definitions and context of those threats across jurisdictions are not present in the materials provided, so the scale beyond DHS’s claims cannot be fully corroborated here [1] [2] [6]. The available record nonetheless supports the direct claim that officers and families have experienced death threats and abuse; debates over causes, frequency and appropriate responses remain sharply contested along political and legal lines [4] [9].