Off-Duty Border Patrol Agent Shot in Face Amid Rising Anti-ICE Rhetoric from the Left
A 42-year-old off-duty Border Patrol agent was shot in the face and arm late Saturday night in New York City, in what authorities believe was a failed robbery attempt—another chilling sign of the increasing dangers faced by law enforcement under President Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown on illegal immigration.
The incident occurred just before midnight in Fort Washington Park, beneath the Washington Bridge, according to AMNewYork. Officers from the 33rd Precinct responded to a 911 call and found the agent, who was not in uniform, suffering from a gunshot wound to his cheek and another to his arm.
The victim was rushed to Harlem Hospital by emergency medical services. He remains in stable condition and is expected to recover. Sources have confirmed the man is a Border Patrol officer, though his name has not been released to the public.
A suspect has been taken into custody for questioning, but formal charges had not yet been announced as of Sunday night. Investigators are treating the incident as an attempted robbery gone wrong.
But the attack is being viewed in a broader, far more troubling context—one in which anti-law enforcement rhetoric from radical left-wing politicians is stoking real-world violence against those charged with securing the nation’s borders.
Former Acting ICE Director and current border czar Tom Homan sounded the alarm during a Monday appearance on America’s Newsroom, warning that verbal attacks from Democrats are putting the lives of ICE and Border Patrol agents in direct jeopardy.
“We have senators, we have congresspeople [who] compare ICE to the Nazis, compare ICE to racists, and it just continues. So the public thinks, well, if a member of Congress can attack ICE, why can’t we?” Homan said.
His comments come on the heels of another recent incident in Texas, where a police officer was shot in the neck outside the Prairieland ICE Detention Facility in Alvarado. That same facility was later targeted by leftist agitators who slashed federal vehicle tires and destroyed security cameras in coordinated attacks.
The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that assaults on federal immigration officials have surged more than 800% compared to the same period last year.
Homan didn’t mince words in placing the blame where it belongs—on Democratic leaders who have encouraged open borders, demonized immigration enforcement, and emboldened extremists.
Among the most vocal offenders: Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who outrageously compared ICE operations to the Gestapo earlier this year, drawing sharp rebukes from conservative lawmakers and law enforcement groups.
“These men and women of ICE, the men and women of Border Patrol, they’re mothers and fathers too. They don’t hang their heart on a hook when they go to work,” Homan said, urging critics to channel their frustrations toward Congress rather than targeting officers with threats and violence.
This escalation of hostilities comes just as President Trump signed his $3.3 trillion border security bill into law on Friday. The landmark legislation includes:
- 10,000 new ICE agents
- $46.5 billion for the border wall
- $45 billion to expand immigration detention
- $30 billion for ICE training and hiring
- $6 billion for border surveillance and tech upgrades
With this historic investment, the Trump administration has made clear: border security is back, and attacks on America’s defenders—whether physical or rhetorical—will not be tolerated.