Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported a surge of applications for employment despite escalating violence against its officers, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Newsmax on Thursday.
“This is a dangerous job, what our law enforcement does every single day,” McLaughlin said on “Wake Up America.” “But what we’ve seen, and it’s been pretty inspiring, is 151,000 applications to join ICE, even though we’re only recruiting 10,000.”
She added that this is due to “the men and women of this country seeing the danger, but they also have real patriotism and want to serve their country.”
Her comments came a day after a gunman opened fire from a rooftop near an ICE facility in Dallas, hitting vans that carried detainees. One detainee was killed and two others were seriously injured before the attacker, identified as Joshua Jahn, turned the gun on himself.
McLaughlin said shell casings found at the scene and marked “anti-ICE” made the shooter’s motive clear.
“He fired indiscriminately, killing one detainee and injuring two others,” she said. “We pray for their families today. And we’re grateful our law enforcement was safe, but they put their lives on the line every day,” she said.
She also warned that heated rhetoric is fueling violence, pointing to recent remarks by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, comparing ICE agents to Nazis or slave patrols.
“This is incredibly dangerous rhetoric,” McLaughlin said. “You are giving a permission slip to these lunatics, to people like this gunman, to take matters into their own hands.”
Assaults on law enforcement are up 1,000%, McLaughlin said, with violent protests reported in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland. She urged politicians to “turn down the rhetoric” and warned that words directly contribute to the violence agents are facing.
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