Mexican cartels have created a “structured bounty program” to incentivize violence against federal law enforcement personnel in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, DHS said that it has “obtained credible intelligence indicating that Mexican criminals, in coordination with domestic extremist groups, have placed targeted bounties on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel.”
The statement is titled “Bounties Originating from Mexico Offered to Shoot ICE and CBP Officers in Chicago.”
DHS said that Mexican “criminal networks have issued explicit instructions to U.S.-based sympathetics, including street gangs in Chicago, to monitor, harass and assassinate federal agents.”
The alleged ‘tiered bounty system’
DHS, citing information obtained from “ongoing investigations,” referred to both a “tiered bounty system” and a “structured bounty program.”
“Cartels have disseminated a structured bounty program to incentivize violence against federal personnel, with payouts escalating based on rank and action taken,” the department said.
DHS said that US $2,000 is on offer for “gathering intelligence or doxxing agents (including photos and family details).”
It said that bounties of $5,000-$10,000 are being offered for “kidnapping or non-lethal assaults on standard ICE/CBP officers.”
The highest tier of the “bounty system” is a payment of “up to $50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials,” according to DHS.
The department said that “criminal organizations in Mexico have begun offering thousands of dollars for the murder of federal law enforcement,” but did not identify any groups by name.
The United States government designated six Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
Mexican cartels have operatives in the United States, some of whom are presumably undocumented and thus susceptible to arrest and deportation. The Trump administration, via ICE and other authorities, is carrying out aggressive immigration raids throughout the United States, including in cities with large Mexican populations such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
In Chicago earlier this month, DHS arrested a Mexican man who allegedly “placed a bounty on the Commander at Large of the U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino.”
The department said that Juan Espinoza Martínez was a “criminal illegal alien and Latin Kings Gang Member,” and alleged that he appeared to offer a $2,000 bounty for the capture of Bovino and a $10,000 reward “if you take him down.”
Spotter networks
DHS said that in neighborhoods such as Pilsen and Little Village in Chicago — both of which are known as Mexican neighborhoods — “gang members affiliated with groups such as the Latin Kings have deployed ‘spotters’ on rooftops” to look out for ICE and CBP agents.
The spotters, “equipped with firearms and radio communications,” track ICE and CBP movements “in real-time, relaying coordinates,” DHS said.
“This surveillance has enabled ambushes and disruptions during routine enforcement actions, including recent raids under Operation Midway Blitz,” the department said.
DHS said that in Portland and Chicago, “Antifa groups have provided logistical support such as pre-staged protest supplies, doxxing of agent identities and on-the-ground interference to shield cartel-linked individuals from deportation.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said that “these criminal networks” — Mexican cartels and U.S.-based groups — are “waging an organized campaign of terror against the brave men and women who protect our borders and communities.”
“Our agents are facing ambushes, drone surveillance and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress. We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist and illegal alien will face American justice,” she said.
Facebook removes page used to share information about ICE agents
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media on Tuesday that “following outreach” from the U.S. Department of Justice, “Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target ICE agents in Chicago.”
“The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs,” Bondi wrote.
“The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement,” she said.
Meta, which owns Facebook, said in a statement that the page used for doxing ICE agents “was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm.”
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