Mexican cartels have placed bounties on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents that are enforcing U.S. immigration laws in big-city raids.

The furious cartels, which had free rein during the open-borders Biden administration, now face the Trump administration’s crack down, which likely adversely affects their U.S. operations.

While Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem briefly addressed the bounties earlier this month, today DHS detailed what the cartels are offering.

The announcement follows the arrest of a gang member in Chicago who put a bounty on Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. Also last week, two law bulletins reported that radicals at a hate-ICE website have mapped the agency’s Chicago-area facilities and even its buildings and posted photos of ICE agents. 

DHS has “credible intelligence indicating that Mexican criminals, in coordination with domestic extremist groups have placed targeted bounties on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel,” the department reported:

These criminal networks have issued explicit instructions to U.S.-based sympathetics, including street gangs in Chicago, to monitor, harass, and assassinate federal agents.

One means of frustrating the immigration crackdown is a “spotter network.” That nefarious operation involves gang members who deploy “‘spotters’ on rooftops equipped with firearms and radio communications.” DHS fingered the notorious Latin Kings as part of the operation.

“These individuals track ICE and CBP movements in real-time, relaying coordinates,” DHS continued. “This surveillance has enabled ambushes and disruptions during routine enforcement actions, including recent raids under Operation Midway Blitz.”

The cartels have also created a three-tiered bounty system that is structured “to incentivize violence against federal personnel, with payouts escalating based on rank and action taken,” DHS reported:

$2,000 for gathering intelligence or doxxing agents (including photos and family details).

$5,000–$10,000 for kidnapping or non-lethal assaults on standard ICE/CBP officers.

Up to $50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials.

In Portland and Chicago, Antifa groups have provided logistical support such as pre-staged protest supplies, doxxing of agent identities, and on-the-ground interference to shield cartel-linked individuals from deportation. 

DHS did not allege that Antifa takes orders from the cartels, whether members have joined the spotter’s network, or whether the leftist goons are attempting to collect the bounties.

As the bounties go, Juan Espinoza Martinez, a Latin Kings Gang member, was charged with soliciting Bovino’s murder. ICE and other federal agents collared Martinez after Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago “received a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation from a user named ‘Juan’ appearing to place a $2,000 bounty for information ‘cuando lo agarren,’” which translates to “when they catch him,” and a $10,000 reward “if you take him down,” DHS reported. “A third response of “LK …. on him” indicates the involvement of the Latin Kings.”

Noem had announced those figures during an appearance on Fox News.

But more than the cartels and Hispanic gangs are are attempting to take down federal agents.

The Center for Internet Security recently reported that a radical website is not only surveilling and mapping ICE facilities in Chicago, but also identifying ICE agents.

“The assessment from CIS said at least four Chicago-area ICE facilities, including Broadview, have been surveilled with detailed layouts, diagrams and photos posted to what is described as an anarchist website,” the city’s ABC7 reported:

Also found on the website reviewed by the ABC7 I-Team were photos of ICE agents, including names, faces and badge numbers.…

A separate Department of Homeland Security Joint Intelligence Bulletin from this month advises ICE facilities and personnel face an increased threat from domestic violent extremists similar to the two shootings at ICE facilities in Texas in September and July.

Unclear, again, is whether the website is linked to the cartels or the gangs.

The station reported that operation after two radicals in Chicago attacked CBP agents in their vehicle.

Federal authorities allege that Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, driving separate vehicles, chased the agents and rammed their vehicles. And “once the CBP Vehicle had stopped and the [Border Patrol agents] exited the CBP Vehicle, MARTINEZ drove the Martinez Vehicle at BPA 1,” the criminal complaint against the two alleges.

The border agent fired his weapon five times at Martinez, who landed in the hospital.

“If you box them in with vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed and that this could end in a deadly situation,” Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling warned. As well, he continued, ”deadly force is anything that can cause great bodily harm or death. When you plow into a vehicle that contains law enforcement agents, you’re using deadly force and they can use deadly force in response to stop you.”

A federal magistrate judge didn’t see it that way. She didn’t think using deadly force against law enforcement justified keeping them in jail and released them.