The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have issued a joint intelligence bulletin obtained by CBS News that warns of attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and facilities, including by “domestic violent extremists” claiming to respond to immigration enforcement activities.
The memo — circulated to state and local law enforcement nationwide on Wednesday — assesses that since June, extremists in at least three states have conducted targeted, pre-planned violent attacks against ICE personnel and facilities. It says the attacks represent “an evolution in tactics and an escalation in violence compared to [domestic violent extremists’] past attacks, which primarily resulted in property damage.”
The Trump administration has warned of a surge in threats against ICE agents and facilities in recent months, as immigration arrests and deportations rise. The administration has floated sending personnel from other agencies to guard ICE facilities, and has weighed military deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon — drawing stiff opposition from local officials.
Wednesday’s memo points to an attack last week in which a gunman identified as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn fired from the roof of a building into three ICE transport vehicles and windows of a Dallas ICE facility. The attack wounded three detainees, one of whom died at the scene and another of whom succumbed to his injuries six days later.
According to the bulletin, the gunman “conducted prior surveillance of the ICE facility, enabling him to identify areas where ICE personnel likely would be located.” Authorities say Jahn died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The bulletin also references a Fourth of July attack on the ICE Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, that saw one alleged domestic violent extremist open fire on a local law enforcement officer from a concealed position. The attack occurred around 11 p.m. on the holiday, outside the sprawling ICE detention facility, which houses between 1,000 and 2,000 immigration detainees.
The bulletin says investigators have found the group of people allegedly responsible for the shooting used an identified encrypted communication platform and a local residence to conduct pre-operational planning. “As of September 2025, the FBI has arrested 20 individuals involved in the Prairieland Detention Center attack, including the alleged gunman and individuals who helped the gunman evade law enforcement after the attack,” the memo noted.
The bulletin also cites “additional unplanned, reactive violent attacks that took advantage of First Amendment-protected activity.”
“Since at least June 2025, small groups of threat actors, some of whom are [domestic violent extremists], have leveraged large, lawful protests in the Los Angeles, California area and in multiple cities in Oregon to engage in violent activity targeting ICE property,” the report indicated. “These individuals have caused damage to ICE facilities in Portland and Eugene, Oregon, and engaged in violent confrontations with law enforcement.”
The bulletin advised state and local law enforcement to “remain vigilant to detect, prevent, or respond to [domestic violent extremist] incidents targeting ICE personnel or facilities in the United States.”
The FBI and DHS define a domestic violent extremist as “an individual based and operating primarily within the United States or its own territories without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or other foreign power who seeks to further political or social goals wholly or in part through unlawful acts of force or violence.”
But the federal law enforcement agencies also say the “mere advocacy of political or social positions, political activism, use of strong rhetoric, or generalized philosophic embrace of violent tactics does not constitute extremism and may be constitutionally protected.”
ICE says law enforcement officials within the agency have faced a 1,000% increase in assaults against them since the beginning of the Trump administration, as President Trump looks to dramatically ramp up immigration arrests.
The administration has vowed to crack down on threats against ICE, with Attorney General Pam Bondi directing personnel from the FBI and other Justice Department law enforcement agencies to assist with guarding immigration facilities earlier this week. Mr. Trump has said he will send military personnel to Portland, Oregon, to guard federal facilities, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday he learned of a similar planned military deployment in his state. State officials decried the plans, with Pritzker accusing Mr. Trump of “sowing fear and intimidation and division among Americans.” Oregon is challenging the planned deployment in court.
And last week, Mr. Trump directed law enforcement agencies to investigate “domestic terrorism and organized political violence.” Bondi directed regional Joint Terrorism Task Forces to look into “repeated acts of violence and obstruction against federal agents.”
The president has blamed some of the threats against ICE on antifa, which he labeled a domestic terrorist organization. Legal experts say that move could face legal impediments since antifa is generally regarded as a loose affiliation of left-wing activists, not a centralized organization, and domestic terrorism isn’t a chargeable offense under federal law.
Both the FBI and DHS acknowledge that “as immigration enforcement operations continue, DHS and the FBI remain concerned there is an increased risk of [domestic violent extremists] and criminal actors conducting targeted attacks on ICE personnel, facilities, or operations, or law enforcement officials supporting immigration enforcement operations.” It notes that extremists will likely “continue to view ICE enforcement operations as opportune targets for violence in furtherance of their political and social goals.”
“Due to the highly personal nature of radicalization and mobilization to violence, it can be challenging to identify specific indicators of US violent extremists’ intent to commit violence,” the memo concedes.
