A U.S. citizen, Rayden Colemen, has been arrested in Oregon after allegedly planning an attack on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel at the Portland ICE office. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Colemen authored a manifesto outlining his intent to kill ICE officers using Molotov cocktails and firearms.
The St. Helen’s Police Department stopped Colemen's vehicle on February 4, discovering bottles, sand, accelerant, and a camouflage backpack containing multiple knives—materials that could be used to make Molotov cocktails. During questioning by law enforcement, Colemen admitted he was expecting delivery of an AR-15 style rifle on February 5 and stated that if he had received it, he would have carried out his threats.
Colemen faces state charges including six counts of manufacturing a destructive device and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. The investigation is ongoing with the involvement of ICE Homeland Security Investigations.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented on the incident: “Every day there are more assaults, more vehicle-ramming attacks, and more attempts to kill our officers. Now, we have an American citizen who planned to kill ICE officers with Molotov cocktails and gun them down. It’s disturbing,” she said. “Sanctuary politicians comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has real world consequences. The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must end.”
According to DHS officials, there has been a significant rise in threats against ICE officers in recent years. Assaults against these officers have increased by over 1,300 percent while death threats have risen by 8,000 percent.
