The Trump administration on Wednesday announced new regulations that give the federal government advanced charging authority to arrest masked rioters.
The new regulations apply to individuals both on and off federal property, in what the Department of Homeland Security says will be “an essential tool in addressing the recent surge in violence at DHS facilities.”
Under the new regulations, suspects can be apprehended for wearing a mask or hood that conceals their identity while committing a crime, even crimes that would previously fall under local or state jurisdiction. Critics argue the new regulation could be used as a pretext to arrest any protesters who are hiding their identity for any reason.
The regulations, which were set to take effect on January 1 but will instead be implemented beginning November 5, “address a recent surge in security and public safety threats.” They allow the Federal Protective Services to make arrests for violations on and off federal property to the “extent those violations affect federal property and the persons thereon.” FPS is the agency tasked with protecting federal buildings and their grounds.
Those violations may include disorderly conduct, obstructing access to federal property, impeding the performance of official duties of federal employees, threatening to commit any crime of violence, tampering with government IT systems, creating any hazard or threat of hazard on federal property to persons or things, and causing an unmanned aircraft or system to take off, land, or damage federal property.
“DHS is using every tool possible to protect the lives of our law enforcement as they face a surge in violence and lawlessness at many of our federal facilities,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “We’ve seen rampant violence against law enforcement including our officers shot at, rammed by vehicles, assaulted and threatened.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we will not tolerate violence perpetuated by Antifa and other domestic extremists who are targeting federal property and law enforcement,” she added. “Law and order will prevail.”
DHS has previously said law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1,000 percent increase in assaults.
“We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement,” McLaughlin said last month, after a U.S. Marshal and an illegal immigrant were shot during an immigration enforcement operation when the illegal immigrant attempted to evade arrest by ramming his car into federal vehicles. Officers then fired defensive shots, hitting the illegal immigrant. A law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet.
On Thursday, DHS said an ICE officer in Houston required 13 stitches after he was attacked by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant while making an arrest. Walter Leonel Perez Rodriguez resisted arrest earlier this week and attacked the ICE officer with a metal coffee mug, splitting his lip open. Perez Rodriguez has prior convictions for sexual assault of a child, child fondling, multiple DUIs, and illegal re-entry. He was previously deported in 2013 and 2020.
There have been a number of violent attacks on DHS facilities in the last year as President Trump has ramped up immigration enforcement efforts.
In September, a man with “ANTI-ICE” inscribed on ammunition opened fire on an ICE field office, killing two detainees.
In July, a group of alleged Antifa members ambushed the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. When law enforcement responded to the ambush, attackers opened gunfire, shooting a police officer in the neck.
Two alleged Antifa members were indicted on terrorism-related charges in connection with that attack, marking the first time the Department of Justice has brought Antifa-related terrorism charges against a defendant since Trump classified the group as a terrorist organization.