Illegal immigrant threatened to kill Trump for 'messing with us Mexicans'

The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that it had arrested an illegal immigrant who delivered a racially tinged threat to kill President Trump over his aggressive border and deportation crackdowns.

Ramon Morales-Reyes, 54, wrote a letter promising to leave the country after he had assassinated the president.

“We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans,” he wrote in neat handwritten script in the letter, which was released by Homeland Security. “We have done more for this country than you white people — you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him.”

He said he would “self deport” but first “shoot your precious president in is head.”

He said he would take the shot at “one of his big ralleys.”

A field intelligence officer at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement received the letter, and ICE rushed to arrest Mr. Morales.

“Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

She noted that Mr. Morales made the threat less than a year after a would-be assassin shot Mr. Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The gunfire hit him in the ear, killed one rallygoer and severely wounded two others.

Just two weeks ago, she said, “former FBI Director Comey called for the president’s assassination.”

Ms. Noem also oversees the Secret Service, which protects the president. She pleaded for cool.

“All politicians and members of the media should take notice of these repeated attempts on President Trump’s life and tone down their rhetoric,” she said.

ICE arrested Mr. Morales on May 22, a day after the agency received the letter.

Homeland Security identified his status as “illegal alien” and said he was being held under immigration detention in Wisconsin pending a deportation hearing.

Mr. Morales has nine previous illegal entries on his record, from 1998 to 2005. His criminal record includes felony hit-and-run, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.

Rhetoric against Mr. Trump and ICE has ramped up as the administration carries out its agenda.

Authorities last month arrested a Pennsylvania man accused of posting to social media saying he wanted to “start killing people,” beginning with the president. He also allegedly called ICE “terrorist people” and said, “We need to start killing them.”

In California, a couple were charged with using their vehicle to try to harass ICE agents returning from an operation. The man charged in that case told investigators he was acting out of “pride for Mexico,” according to court documents.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said more recently that ICE is a “modern-day Gestapo.” Democrats on Capitol Hill have called ICE “out of control” after charges were filed against a Congress member caught on video shoving an ICE officer during a scuffle at a detention facility in New Jersey.

ICE said the rhetoric is translating into violence and that assaults on officers are 400% higher than last year.

Mr. Trump faced two clear assassination attempts last year during the presidential campaign. The gunman at the Pennsylvania rally in July wounded him in the ear and came within an inch of a fatal headshot. Two months later, Secret Service agents spotted and chased away a man with a rifle on a Florida golf course where Mr. Trump was playing.

Mr. Comey was criticized this month after posting to social media shells in the form of the numbers “86 47,” which Ms. Noem said was a call to assassinate the 47th president.

The former FBI chief said he understood it to be a political message but didn’t know it could be interpreted as a threat of violence against Mr. Trump.