Attacks on ICE up 1,000%? Trump administration claim not backed up by court records

The federal prosecutor faced the jury, brandishing the item he said had been “used as a sword” to assault a federal officer during a July protest in downtown Los Angeles.

The object that Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe said was wielded as a weapon: An umbrella that an investigator needed a special scale to weigh because it was less than one pound.

For months, Trump administration officials have cited violence against federal law enforcement officers carrying out the president’s deportation campaign as justification for aggressive tactics, including threats to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines. The Department of Homeland Security has touted a staggering figure, claiming a 1,000% increase in assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

But a Times analysis of court records related to assaults on federal law enforcement in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Ore., Chicago and Washington, D.C., shows the majority of the alleged attacks resulted in no injury to an agent. In roughly 42% of the cases The Times reviewed, federal law enforcement officers were either shoved, spat on or flailed at, or had water bottles thrown at them, according to court affidavits.

During the umbrella assault trial in October, prosecutors provided no evidence of any injuries. In L.A. and across the country, defendants accused of assaulting federal officers have won acquittals or had charges dropped. More than a third of the cases The Times analyzed ended in dismissals or acquittals, in some instances because the defendants were deported. No cases have ended in a conviction at trial.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-01/dhs-1000-percent-increase-attacks-on-ice-agents-times-analysis