Authorities in Dallas arrested a 36-year old man who the Department of Homeland Security says issued bomb threats against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on Monday.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m. Monday, Bratton Dean Wilkinson allegedly approached security officers and showed them what he claimed to be a “detonator” on his wrist, prompting a shelter-in-place for ICE’s Dallas Field Office, according to a senior DHS official. The Dallas resident allegedly approached the entrance of the facility and claimed he had a bomb in his backpack.
An officer with the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services who was stationed outside the field office called 911, according to a senior DHS official.
The Dallas Police Department dispatched a bomb squad to the scene, later arresting the man on charges of allegedly making terroristic threats. According to law enforcement officials, Wilkinson was transferred to the Dallas County Jail. Police issued an all-clear at 7:19 p.m. local time, less than an hour after the incident began.
Dallas Police Spokesperson Michael Dennis told CBS News that Wilkinson was charged with false reporting to induce an emergency response, a class A misdemeanor.
Law enforcement officials tell CBS News the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas is looking into pursuing federal charges.
CBS News has reached out to Wilkinson for comment.
The incident comes just two weeks after a threatening letter with a non-hazardous white powdery substance was sent to an ICE office in New York City. Sources told CBS News New York there were a total of five envelopes received with letters containing “anti-ICE rhetoric.”
Last Wednesday, an anti-ICE protester was charged with assault and destruction of federal property in San Francisco after the man allegedly slashed the tire of a government vehicle and threatened to stab a law enforcement officer during a targeted law enforcement operation.
According to court filings, 35-year-old Adrian Guerrero of Oakland, California, made repeated threats against law enforcement in San Francisco, allegedly warning, “I’m going to f*ck you up,” and “I’m going to go after your family.”
The Department of Homeland Security said Guerrero was part of a group of roughly 15 to 20 violent rioters who assaulted, grabbed, punched, and pepper sprayed ICE agents.
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 arrests.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told CBS News on Friday that the increase in violent protests targeting ICE officials has impacted the way immigration agents train and prepare for targeted operations.
“We have to look at all those scenarios,” Lyons said. “We’re seeing obviously different tactics being employed by these protesters, so we have to reevaluate given these actual assaults – see what the cause of it was, and then retool our training to ensure that the next officer is prepared for any type of situation that can come up.”
Lyons defended his agents’ decision to wear masks while performing law enforcement duties.
“If you look at the last administration, they didn’t have to wear them,” Lyons said in an interview last week. “The beginning of this administration we didn’t have to wear them. But the toll that it’s taken on the officers from the doxing, from the crazy rhetoric of threats against ICE, against their families. While I’m not a proponent of it, I’m not going to stop our agents from doing something that’s going to keep them safe and their families safe. To me, that’s number one priority.”
