Latino Gang Banger Busted In Alleged Plot to Assassinate Border Patrol Chief
The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that federal agents have arrested a criminal illegal immigrant and confirmed member of the Latin Kings street gang accused of placing a bounty on the life of a senior U.S. Border Patrol official — a chilling escalation in threats against federal law enforcement.
According to DHS, authorities were alerted on October 3, 2025, by a confidential source who reported that a “hit” had been ordered against U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino by a Latin Kings gang member. Investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit identified the suspect as Juan Espinoza Martinez, who was taken into custody on October 6 in Burr Ridge, Illinois.
HSI Chicago received a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation from a user identified as “Juan” appearing to offer a $2,000 bounty for information “cuando lo agarren,” meaning “when they catch him,” along with a $10,000 reward “if you take him down.” A third message reading “LK….on him” explicitly referenced the Latin Kings, according to a DHS press release.
The Department of Justice has since charged Espinoza Martinez with soliciting the murder of a senior federal law enforcement official.
“Depraved individuals like Juan Espinoza Martinez – who do not value human life and threaten law enforcement– do NOT belong in this country. We will not allow criminal gangs to put hits on U.S. government officials and our law enforcement officers,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
“Thanks to ICE and our federal law enforcement partners, this thug is off our streets and behind bars. These attacks on our brave law enforcement officers must END. Secretary Noem has been crystal clear: If you threaten or lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.
The arrest comes amid growing warnings from DHS leadership that federal officers are being directly targeted by organized criminal networks. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed Sunday that intelligence agencies have uncovered credible threats against federal agents, including bounties placed by “gangs, cartel members, and known terrorist organizations.”
Speaking on Fox & Friends Weekend, Noem described the situation as an “unprecedented” danger to law enforcement officers operating under President Donald J. Trump’s administration.
Noem detailed a violent incident in Chicago on Saturday in which federal agents were forced to defend themselves after being followed and surrounded by a convoy of vehicles.
“They had followed them [the agents] and gotten them cornered, pinned them down, and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over, and had semi-automatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves, and shots were fired, and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said, calling it a “very dangerous situation.”
She added that the suspect involved had issued prior threats.
“This individual had threatened them previously and had told them that they all needed to go down and shouted expletives at them,” Noem said.
According to Noem, intelligence reports show the threats are coordinated and deliberate.
“We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them,” she said. “They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks, and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented.”
When asked who was responsible for issuing the bounties, Noem was direct.
“It was gangs, cartel members and known terrorist organizations, so foreign terrorist organizations as deemed by the president but also ones that we have known for many, many years,” she said.
Noem emphasized that the motivation is financial and strategic, aimed at stopping federal enforcement operations.
“They are making sure that they know which officers are out there and being extremely effective, and they want to take them down, because they want to try to stop the operations that are going, that are keeping them from making money off their criminal networks,” she said.
“Make no mistake, this isn’t just about protesting free speech or that they don’t like that people out here are upholding the law of our country. They’re actually going out there and saying kill these people and we’ll give you this much money to do it,” Noem added.
The arrest underscores the increasingly dangerous environment facing federal law enforcement as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to dismantle criminal networks, enforce immigration law, and restore order — even as gangs and cartels openly retaliate.