Assaults and attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have increased by 1,153% over the past 11 months, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security. As ICE officers continue to arrest undocumented migrants and some of the most violent offenders nationwide, both citizens and noncitizens have increasingly interfered with enforcement operations.

The incidents include physically assaulting officers and issuing death threats, according to multiple incident reports across the country, The Center Square reported.

In one of the most recent cases, a Virginia high school assistant principal and his brother were arrested on allegations that they made threats to kill law enforcement officers.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security and the Virginia Beach Police Department opened an investigation into brothers John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett after an off-duty Norfolk police officer overheard them discussing plans to “kill police officers and ICE agents,” DHS said in a statement.

Both men are U.S. citizens and residents of Virginia. The officer said he overheard Mark Bennett tell his brother that he was “planning to meet with like-minded individuals in Las Vegas to purchase firearms with explosive rounds to carry out the attacks,” according to the DHS.

He was taken into custody at Norfolk International Airport, where he was booked on a flight bound for Las Vegas, according to DHS. His brother, John Bennett, was arrested the same day in Virginia Beach. John Bennett serves as an assistant principal at Kempsville High School, where he remains listed on the school’s website. Local outlets report he has been placed on leave.

Both men have been charged under state law with one count of conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, the outlet reported.

The increase in threats against DHS personnel come as two National Guard members were ambushed in Washington, D.C., this week. One of the two has died, which the other is fighting for his life.

“It’s chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers – offering such specifics as to getting a high-caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet-proof vests. Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said said in a statement.

The two men were released on a $25,000 bond with GPS monitoring shortly after their arrests. They told authorities they had been “joking around” and said their planned trip to Las Vegas for the F1 race was unrelated to the incident, WAVY 10 News reported. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 23.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, 238 assaults against ICE officers were reported between Jan. 21 and Nov. 21, 2025, compared with 19 during the same period the previous year — a 1,153% increase.

DHS also reported that death threats directed at ICE personnel rose by 8,000% over the same timeframe, said the outlet.

ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol personnel have also seen an increase in vehicle-based attacks. Vehicular assaults on CBP and Border Patrol agents are up 58%, while such attacks targeting ICE officers have risen by 1,300%, according to The Center Square.

The department has attributed the rise in violence and threats to what it describes as increasingly hostile rhetoric from Democratic officials.

“After months of Democrat politicians comparing ICE to Nazis, the gestapo, slave patrols, and even encouraging illegal aliens to resist arrest, our brave ICE law enforcement have been assaulted 238 times,” McLaughlin said.

“Our law enforcement officers have had Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at them, been shot at, had cars used as weapons against them, and been physically assaulted. Sanctuary politicians need to tone the rhetoric down before a law enforcement officer is killed. They should be thanking these brave law enforcement officers who risk their lives every single day to arrest pedophiles, rapists, murderers, gang members, and terrorists from our neighborhoods.”