Dallas man arrested after threats to kill ICE agents "on sight," authorities say
A North Texas man is in custody and faces charges after allegedly making online threats to shoot and kill U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Monday.
At the end of March, the FBI received a tip that Robert King, 35, was posting online threats to "shoot and kill ICE agents on sight," according to Chad Meacham, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
Facebook posts against ICE agents
The informant said he confronted King about the posts on Facebook, according to the FBI, and reported that "King confirmed not only that he had made the post, but that he was serious about his willingness to kill ICE agents, and that he had no remorse for doing so."
King allegedly posted a threat on a social media platform, stating: "If I see ICE agents in my neighborhood I'm opening fire. It's time to stop being p****** and put the second amendment to work. ICE are not real cops, they are a secret police force with no real legal authority. Kill them."
The informant said that King had been living in the Dallas area; however, after confronting him, King said he had nowhere to live and was "presumably living out of his vehicle," according to court documents.
Additional online threats against Greg Abbott and Kristi Noem
According to court documents, King also made online threats against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and posted on Instagram his belief that President Donald Trump is "a traitor to our country and interests" and "demand[ed] he be put to death."
The affidavit states that King's Facebook profile was linked to an Instagram account which included a post where King "double[s] down" about shooting ICE agents, and "threatens family members that 'there will be hell to pay' if they are stalking his page and feeding information about his posts to anyone."
King was arrested on April 2 and is currently in the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office Detention Facility. His bond has been set at $7,500. He has a detention hearing Wednesday at 1 p.m. His charges were not included in the Department of Justice's press release but authorities did say he was charged in federal court.
Trump's immigration crackdown
Mr. Trump promised to stage a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration immediately after being sworn in, pledging to oversee the largest deportation effort in U.S. history.
Just hours after his inauguration, the Trump administration revoked a Biden-era policy that prohibited arrests by U.S. immigration agents at or near schools, places of worship and other places deemed to be "sensitive locations."
Hundreds of undocumented immigrants have been arrested and flown out of the country on military aircraft.
