A Yakima, Washington man pointed an AR-15-style rifle at federal immigration agents and told them he had 60 rounds to kill them all, the latest in what DHS says is a sustained wave of armed threats against its officers.
Manuel Lozano was not even the target. On May 19, a Homeland Security Investigations team in Yakima had been tracking an illegal alien who fled law enforcement in his vehicle earlier that day. Agents located the fugitive's truck outside a Yakima area residence. Lozano, a U.S. citizen, was at the property when they arrived. Agents spotted a pistol on his waistband. He looked at them, said "I've got something for you," and walked toward the back of the house.
He came back with an AR-15-style rifle.
As agents retreated, Lozano called after them. "I have 60 rounds and have enough to smoke all you," he said, according to a DHS press release published June 10. "You see an AR and walk away." They did leave. No arrest was made that day.
HSI Yakima returned on June 4 and took Lozano into custody. A search of his residence turned up two firearms, firearm parts, and a cache of mixed ammunition. He now faces a federal felony charge for threatening a law enforcement officer. The Daily Wire reported exclusive on-record details of the confrontation ahead of the government's announcement, and DHS confirmed the account in its June 10 release, reproducing Lozano's direct quotes verbatim.
The charge carries serious weight under federal law. The firearms and parts recovered in the search may give prosecutors the basis to seek additional counts as the case develops.
The Yakima confrontation lands in the middle of a pattern DHS has been documenting publicly. The agency reported in January that ICE officers and their families faced an 8,000 percent spike in death threats compared to the prior year. A second January release cited a 1,300 percent increase in physical assaults on agents since the Trump administration intensified interior enforcement, along with 66 vehicular attacks, up from just 2 during the same stretch the year before. DHS attributed the escalation to what it called "radical rhetoric by sanctuary politicians" who have vilified federal law enforcement.
In April, HSI arrested a convicted murderer who had sent written threats to the ICE director calling for agents to be shot in the head, according to a separate DHS release. The Lozano case adds a face-to-face dimension: not a written threat mailed to an official, but a rifle raised on a residential property as agents tried to do their jobs.
Critics have challenged the January statistics. The Brennan Center for Justice argued the administration had not adequately documented the assault figures and said the numbers appeared to conflate different categories of incidents. But the Lozano case is not an aggregate figure. It is a charging document, a seized AR-15-style rifle, and quotes from the man who pointed it at federal agents.
The political framing around ICE enforcement has centered, for months, on agents as aggressors. Democratic lawmakers and progressive activists have argued repeatedly that enforcement operations terrorize communities. The Yakima encounter runs directly against that framing. Agents arrived following a fleeing fugitive. A bystander walked inside, retrieved a rifle, announced he had 60 rounds, and dared them to stay.
The agents exercised restraint. Lozano now faces federal court. Whether prosecutors pursue additional charges tied to the firearms and parts seized from his home will emerge as the case moves toward arraignment in Washington state.
Also read: Portland man gets 30 months for striking ICE officer with rock during protest • Two Utah Court Clerks Indicted for Allegedly Routing Illegal Aliens Past ICE • DOJ sues Virginia over laws that would jail masked federal agents on duty
