Washington — Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday directed federal law enforcement agencies to deploy additional agents to counter protests outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, escalating the Trump administration’s response to demonstrations over immigration enforcement.
In a memo released alongside a post on X, Bondi said the Justice Department would “protect ICE facilities, arrest violent agitators on the spot, and bring the strongest federal charges possible.” She added, “The rule of law will prevail.”
The directive orders the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the FBI to send officers to ICE facilities in Portland, Chicago, and other cities where protests have intensified. Bondi said federal agents would “suppress all unlawful rioting and arrest every person suspected of threatening or assaulting a federal law enforcement officer or interfering with operations.”
The move follows repeated clashes between demonstrators and federal agents outside ICE buildings, where officers have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. Protesters have denounced raids, detentions, and conditions in ICE facilities, while DHS has labeled some demonstrators “violent rioters.”
President Donald Trump over the weekend pledged to send troops to Portland, describing ICE facilities as “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker confirmed Monday that the administration was preparing to deploy 100 troops to his state.
Bondi’s memo cited a “1,000 percent increase in assaults on ICE officers since January 21” and referenced the recent shooting at a Dallas immigration field office, where a gunman killed one detainee and wounded two others. No ICE personnel were injured. She also linked the crackdown to what she called “a new era of extreme political violence,” pointing to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, attempted attacks on Trump, and a school shooting in Minnesota.
Civil liberties advocates have criticized the administration for deploying force against protesters exercising First Amendment rights. Journalist Chris Geidner, writing in his Law Dork newsletter, said Bondi’s directive represented continuity rather than escalation: “Memos like this… should be examined, implementation should be watched, and the inevitable overreach must get pushback. But this is not much different than what had already been the policy.”
Bondi instructed federal prosecutors in Oregon and Illinois to pursue the “highest provable offense available under the law” against those arrested and said charges would not be limited to individuals caught committing violence. “Every person who aids, abets, or conspires to commit these crimes” would also be prosecuted, she wrote.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
