Homan shares new video on ICE facility attack: Result of 'hateful rhetoric' from AOC's 'Squad,' 2020 Dems

Former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tom Homan said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday that the "hateful rhetoric" from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the so-called "Squad," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 2020 presidential candidates is having a dangerous effect on ICE employees around the country.

Homan reacted on the show to new exclusive surveillance video obtained by Fox News of a man -- armed with guns and explosives -- attacking an ICE facility in Tacoma, Wash., last month. The suspect fired a rifle at the building, set a vehicle on fire and attempted to light propane tanks in an effort to burn the facility to the ground.

Homan said numerous lives could have been lost in the attack if not for the quick response of local police since the building houses more than 1,300 immigrants and about 100 ICE agents. The 69-year-old suspect had penned a manifesto declaring his support for Antifa.

ICE OFFICES, WORKERS HIT BY WAVE OF VIOLENCE AND THREATS: 'WE KNOW WHERE ALL YOUR CHILDREN LIVE'

Shots were fired at an ICE office building in San Antonio early Tuesday in what the FBI called a "targeted attack," according to the San Antonio Express-News. The outlet also reported there was also gunfire at another facility where an ICE contractor was located.

More from Fox News Flash

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workers have faced a rapidly escalating series of threats, including protesters menacing their children and shots being fired at their offices, amid a rising tide of anti-ICE rhetoric from the left fueled by congressional Democrats, media voices and presidential hopefuls.

Footage published Tuesday by Breitbart News shows protesters in Florida from groups such as Never Again Action and Black Lives Matter Alliance of Broward County threatening workers and former employees of the GEO Group, a private contractor used by ICE. One protester threatened the family of GEO Group’s former general counsel, John Bulfin.

TOM HOMAN: ICE, BORDER PATROL ARE TARGETS FOR LEFT-WING EXTREMISTS: WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE FROM DEMS?

Homan, who also wrote an op-ed for Fox News on Wednesday about the dangers of left-wing immigration rhetoric, said he was threatened when he was acting ICE director and he had to place armed security around his home to protect his family.

"I have to blame the Democratic hateful rhetoric that you hear from The Squad, AOC, the Speaker of the House, just about everybody running for president on the Democratic ticket wants to abolish ICE, you know, we're Nazis, we're racists, we run concentration camps and they wonder why people are emboldened to do these things," he said, referring to the inflammatory statements against ICE since President Trump came into office.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Homan said the ICE agents and officials who are now being vilified by the left are the same men and women who served under President Barack Obama and are devoted to keeping communities safe. He said the left was quick to blame the El Paso mass shooting on Trump, yet they are silent when ICE buildings are attacked.

"It has to stop. ... It's a matter of time before one of our [ICE] employees or Border Patrol agents or families of one of our contractors is killed and I don't hear anything from the left on that."

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Load more..