Man who encouraged on social networks to shoot Kristi Noem and ICE agents arrested in Texas

The Homeland Security Investigations Office reported Wednesday that agency agents arrested a man in Texas for making "terroristic threats" against the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The agency noted that the subject, identified as Robert King, was arrested in Texas City after issuing the threats through a video on his TikTok account.

In said video, King commented that "If ICE agents are trying to take you or a loved one, shoot them on sight! The way they're pulling up - masks on, unmarked vehicles - it could be anybody! You have a right to shoot at them!"

In its statement, the agency noted that King's "alarming social media posts included intentions to ‘open fire’ if agents are seen in his neighborhood." The arrest came just days after Noem responded to another social media post about the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and ICE's work to detain and deport illegal immigrants. "If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," Noem went so far as to write on his X account.

More threats against ICE

Over the past few days, several users on social networks have advised their followers to open fire against ICE arriving in their communities in vehicles without license plates, arguing that committing such an action would be difficult to prosecute as an act of "self-defense." All of these videos and content have been deleted from the social networks on which they were posted.

The calls for violence against ICE agents began a few hours after the agency arrested several foreign college students who were accused of participating in pro-Hamas and anti-Israel protests at several of the country's most prestigious academic institutions. The most famous case was that of Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University and a Turkish national, who was arrested by officers who were in plain clothes and had driven to the vicinity of the university in a van without identification.