An illegal immigrant who allegedly threatened to kill President Donald Trump before self-deporting to Mexico has been arrested, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who denounced rhetoric from left-leaning media and politicians for fueling such incidents.
Noem said in a May 28 statement that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 54-year-old Mexican national Ramon Morales Reyes after an ICE field intelligence officer received a handwritten letter from Reyes indicating his intention to self-deport after shooting Trump in the head at a rally.
“Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” Noem said in the statement. “This threat comes not even a year after President Trump was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania, and less than two weeks after former FBI Director Comey called for the President’s assassination.”
The secretary’s reference to Comey relates to an Instagram post the former FBI director made, featuring a photograph of small seashells arranged to form two sets of numbers: “86”—slang for “to get rid of”—and “47,” the number of Trump’s current presidential term. The post sparked controversy and Noem alleged that Comey was calling for Trump’s assassination. Comey later took the post down, saying he didn’t realize that some people read his message as a call for political violence, which he said was not his intention.
In her May 28 statement about Reyes’s arrest, Noem warned that heated political rhetoric can fuel real-world violence and called on public figures to exercise restraint.
“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 wrote. “I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.”
Trump was targeted in two assassination attempts last year, including a shooting that grazed his right ear at a rally in Pennsylvania. The second attempt—at one of Trump’s golf courses—was foiled before the suspect could open fire.
In her Wednesday announcement, Noem said that Reyes illegally entered the United States at least nine times between 1998 and 2005. His criminal history includes arrests for felony hit-and-run, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct involving domestic abuse. He is currently being held at an ICE detention facility in Wisconsin as he awaits deportation.
Trump’s return to the White House for a second term came on the back of a campaign pledge to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
On his first day back in office, Trump declared an invasion at the southern border and, in a flurry of executive orders, deployed military assets to the border, reinstated the Remain in Mexico program, ramped up vetting procedures, and launched a self-deportation initiative aimed at accelerating the removal of illegal immigrants.
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