Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin called on sanctuary officials to end rhetoric directed at federal immigration enforcement as DHS reported 647 assaults on ICE personnel since January 2025.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday accused sanctuary politicians of contributing to an increasingly hostile environment for federal immigration officers as the Department of Homeland Security reported a steep increase in assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel during President Donald Trump’s second administration.
DHS said ICE officers have been attacked 647 times between January 2025 and September 2026, compared with 37 attacks during what the department described as the corresponding period under the Biden administration. The department reported that the difference represents a 1,647% increase as ICE carries out the Trump administration’s intensified enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Mullin tied the increase to political rhetoric surrounding ICE and opposition to the administration’s immigration enforcement campaign.
“The brave men and women of ICE, who are simply enforcing the laws mandated by Congress and protecting the American people, are under attack every single day,” Mullin told Fox News. “Since President Trump unleashed ICE to do their jobs, assaults against them have risen by more than 1,600% in the first year and a half of the administration.”
The secretary attributed the violence to what he called “vicious lies,” which he said are being spread by “sanctuary politicians and their foot soldiers who are involved in anti-ICE riots and other acts of violence.”
“DHS is calling on these sanctuary politicians to stop attacking federal law enforcement, stop putting the needs of illegal aliens ahead of the safety of American citizens, and to start working with us to make America safe again,” he said.
The department said confrontations surrounding immigration enforcement have included more than verbal disputes. According to DHS, some protesters opposing ICE operations have displayed weapons in encounters with officers, thrown objects, issued threats and attempted to obstruct federal law enforcement activities.
DHS also pointed to comparisons made by politicians between ICE enforcement operations and Nazi Germany as part of the rhetoric it says has accompanied growing hostility toward immigration officers.
The department’s figures cover the period beginning in January 2025, when Trump returned to the White House and his administration expanded immigration enforcement as part of its crackdown on illegal immigration. DHS characterized the increase in reported assaults as occurring alongside that broader enforcement effort.
Mullin’s comments Thursday placed sanctuary policies and the political debate surrounding immigration enforcement at the center of the administration’s response to the attacks. His remarks called for state and local political leaders who oppose federal immigration policies to cooperate with DHS rather than publicly attack the work of ICE officers.
The department’s account comes as the Trump administration continues making immigration enforcement a major domestic policy priority while facing organized opposition to ICE activities in jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
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