A far-left Boston-area man was arrested by federal agents in New York Thursday morning after threatening U.S. immigration agents on Twitter.
#BREAKING: USA #Lelling announces arrest of Massachusetts man for soliciting #murder of #ICE agents on Twitter pic.twitter.com/lMfMbyvbi3
— U.S. Attorney MA (@DMAnews1) August 9, 2018
On July 2, Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, posted on Twitter that he would give $500 to anyone who would kill an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and encouraged others to do the same:
https://twitter.com/marcjohnson0002/status/1027604687250317313
The indictment alleges that “Ziobrowski’s tweet was designed as a threat to encourage violence and the murder of federal law enforcement agents.” He had 448 Twitter followers at the time of that tweet.
The threat came as multiple Democratic officials and left-wing pundits were demonizing ICE officers, calling for them to be abolished, and as far-left activists in cities across the nation were protesting ICE facilities.
Rep. Steve Scalise asks a valid question:
Are Democrats concerned that their irresponsible and baseless attacks against @ICEgov are inciting violent threats against the law enforcement agents who keep us safe? https://t.co/1P6Yu5Ri2V
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 9, 2018
According to the indictment, Ziobrowski in previous tweets had also repeatedly indicated a desire to “slit” Sen. John McCain’s throat.
He began promoting violence against law enforcement in February of 2018, according to the indictment, and began tweeting threatening messages specifically against ICE agents in March.
A tweet on Feb. 24, for instance, read: “Guns should only be legal for shooting the police like the second amendment intended.”
On March 1, in response to a tweet from the ICE field office saying that ICE officers put their “lives on the line to arrest criminal aliens,” Ziobrowski posted a response reading: “Thank you ICE for putting your lives on the line and hopefully dying I guess so there’s less of you?”
His Twitter account was suspended after the July 2 threatening tweet at the request of law enforcement.
Ziobrowski still has a Facebook account, however:
According to his Facebook likes, Ziobrowski is a fan of the communist, pro-North Korea Juche Gang party, the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Hillary Clinton Resistance in addition to many other strange, pop-culture, gay-centric FB pages.
In February, Ziobrowski posted on his Facebook page his concern about white supremacist groups in the U.S.
He posted a screenshot of a passage from a book that read, “The single factor correlating most highly with surges in the Ku Klux Klan membership (going all the way back to the 1860s) is an influx of veterans returning from war.”
He added in the comments, “Turns out warping people in to a mentality where they can kill strangers involves them not liking strangers.”
Ziobrowksi’s case was handled by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston, and he was arrested in New York at 7:15 Thursday morning.
“I can promise you that during my tenure this office will aggressively prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.
“Enough is enough,” said Hank Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston field office. “This case presents the violent potential faced by federal law enforcement officers.”
Ziobrowksi is facing a charge of “using interstate commerce to transmit a threat to injure another.”
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