An ominous plot to paste images of ICE protesters across TV and pressure employees to fire anybody opposing the immigration agency's presence in American cities has been announced by President Donald Trump's administration.
Trump's border chief suggested Thursday that it would be in revenge for publicizing the identity of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a woman in Minneapolis.
"We’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we're going to make them famous," border czar Tom Homan told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
"We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.
“They want to broadcast the ICE officer that was nearly killed all over the internet? We’re going to broadcast every one of these people we arrest.”
The threat comes more than a week after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Though the government did not formally identify him, the media named Jonathan Ross as the agent, and his image has been plastered across the internet.
Though he hasn't been charged with any crime, Ross and his family have been in hiding since. Local authorities have complained they have been frozen out of the investigation into him.
Homan told Ingraham, "You can protest, they have that right. But when you cross the line, and we've proven it, if you interfere or impede or assault an ICE officer, you will be prosecuted."
The Trump administration has deployed over 2,400 Department of Homeland Security agents to Minnesota to conduct immigration enforcement operations. Daily footage shows masked ICE agents conducting aggressive interactions with members of the public.
Massive protests since are expected to culminate in a major protest in Minneapolis this weekend.
During a Thursday press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt displayed photographs of anti-ICE protesters making obscene gestures, despite such conduct being protected First Amendment activity. This criticism drew scrutiny given that the White House recently defended Trump after he was recorded making a similar gesture toward a Michigan factory worker.
When discussing public opposition to ICE operations, Homan attributed negative polling to media coverage rather than operational concerns. He said: "If people listen to most of the media—not this network—they're gonna hear that ICE is separating families every day, or deporting U.S. citizen children, or we're doing operations in elementary schools and churches.
"We gotta push back the lies, and I think a lot of people don't get the facts."