A North Texas man is behind bars for allegedly threatening federal immigration officials on social media — including Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem.
According to Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office records, Robert King, 35, is charged with one count of making terroristic threats that impaired or interrupted public services.
The arrest was announced on Wednesday by the Dallas branch of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), DHS’s primary investigative branch that frequently collaborates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Robert King, a U.S. citizen was recently taken into custody in McKinney, Texas for making terroristic threats against ICE agents and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem,” according to the posting. “King’s alarming social media posts included intentions to ‘open fire’ if agents are seen in his neighborhood.”
In the accompanying photo, King is handcuffed next to a group of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. The defendant’s face is visible in the photo provided by the agency, whereas the agents’ faces appear to have been blurred using photo-editing software.
A DHS spokesperson shared some of the offensive social media posts with Fort Worth’s NBC affiliate KXAS and Newsweek.
“I truly hope, and I mean this with all my heart, that Kristi Noem meets a horrible and agonizing end. “I hope she is tried in a war criminal court alongside the rest of the Nazis when this is all over, and I hope she is ripped apart in a gulag,” the defendant allegedly wrote on Facebook. “Nazi scum deserves nothing less. This is America, a Nazi fascist state. Disgusting.”
Another such post implored people to shoot ICE agents.
“If I see ICE agents in my neighborhood, I am opening fire,” King allegedly wrote on Facebook. “It’s time to stop being p — and put the second amendment to work. ICE are not real cops, they are a secret police force with no real legal authority. Kill them.”
“Shoot at ICE agents on sight,” an unidentified man in a since-removed TikTok video said. “That’s right. If ICE agents are trying to take you or a loved one, shoot them on sight.”
Noem, in turn, cited the TikTok video on X and wrote: “If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
King is currently detained at the Kaufman County Jail on a $7,500 bond. Additional information about his case was not immediately available.
