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A top US official has claimed that cartels and gangs are placing bounties to kill and kidnap federal immigration officers.

Getting into it: During an appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, DHS Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a series of claims, stating that “gangs, cartel members and known terrorist organizations” have placed bounties on specific US immigration agents. According to Noem, the bounties include offers of $2,000 to kidnap and $10,000 to kill individual officers. “They’ve released their pictures; they’ve sent them between their networks,” she said, describing a coordinated doxing effort targeting federal agents.

Noem characterized the situation as “extremely dangerous and unprecedented,” suggesting that the targeting was a direct response to the effectiveness of the agents in disrupting criminal operations. She did not specify which federal agencies the targeted agents belong to, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). She also declined to name the specific criminal groups behind the threats but emphasized that DHS intelligence has confirmed the bounties and the organized nature of the campaign.

“They are making sure that they know which officers are out there and being extremely effective, and they want to take them down,” Noem said, claiming that these groups are seeking to eliminate the agents disrupting their illicit networks. The Secretary also suggested that the threat extends beyond just digital doxing or monetary offers. She cited intelligence that these criminal networks are actively planning ambushes and organizing followers to track and confront agents in the field. “Our intelligence indicates that these people are organized,” she said. “They’re getting more and more people on their team, as far as attacking officers, and they’re making plans to ambush them and to kill them.”

These claims come amid heightened tensions between federal immigration authorities and local governments, particularly in Chicago, where immigration raids have been met with resistance from state and city officials. Noem alleged that some anti-federal protests in the city appear to be funded or coordinated by outside actors, pointing to similarities in gear and signage. “All the protesters are wearing the same gas masks. They’re carrying the same kind of signs, many of them were printed with the same font,” she said, suggesting they were not grassroots demonstrations but possibly linked to broader organized efforts aimed at undermining federal operations.

Trump has indicated that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be looking into whether those affiliated with ANTIFA and other groups were being funded by outside sources, specifically naming individuals like George Soros and Reid Hoffman as potential funders.