U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers carried out several rescues in 2025 that the agency and The Daily Wire described as life-saving incidents. The same report and related federal statements also pointed to a steep increase in assaults and threats against ICE personnel as immigration enforcement intensified under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carried out a series of rescues in 2025 that the agency highlighted as examples of officers acting as first responders while on duty or off duty.
A Dec. 31, 2025 report by The Daily Wire said ICE officers faced a 1,347% increase in assaults and an 8,000% increase in death threats in 2025, and linked the hostile climate to criticism from “left-wing activists and Democratic politicians” tied to the agency’s role in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign.
Those percentage figures, however, are not uniformly reflected in other official public statements. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release dated July 15, 2025 said ICE officials experienced an 830% increase in assaults from Jan. 21 to July 14, 2025, compared with the same period in 2024. In a separate Fox News interview/report, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons was quoted citing an 8,000% rise in death threats, but the assault percentage cited there differed from both the DHS release and The Daily Wire’s figure.
The Daily Wire attributed several statements to an ICE source and to Lyons. An agency source told The Daily Wire that officers receive standard law-enforcement-style instruction, including “CPR and active shooter training.” Lyons, in a statement shared with The Daily Wire, said officers “show up knowing the risks they face — and they choose to serve anyway,” and added that “courage is measured by actions, not words.”
Five incidents ICE shared
The Daily Wire reported that ICE provided five examples of officer interventions in emergencies during 2025:
Illinois crash rescue (September 2025): The Daily Wire said members of ICE’s Denver Special Response Team, traveling to an ICE facility in Illinois, stopped at a multi-vehicle collision involving a tractor-trailer and other cars and pulled an unconscious driver from a burning vehicle. An ICE press release dated Sept. 26, 2025 corroborates core details of this incident, including that three Denver SRT officers traveling to the Broadview Detention Center in Broadview, Illinois witnessed a crash on Sept. 25, used breaching equipment to extract a trapped driver from a burning car, and suffered minor smoke inhalation and cuts.
Dallas rollover (April 26, 2025): The Daily Wire reported that ICE officers in Dallas saw a pickup truck lose a tire, roll multiple times, and land upside down, and that officers and two bystanders pried the vehicle open to rescue the driver.
Philadelphia tree crash (July 11, 2025): The Daily Wire reported that ICE officers in Philadelphia rescued a driver after a crash into a tree and extinguished an engine fire while waiting for emergency responders.
Philadelphia shooting aid during a raid (October 2025): The Daily Wire reported that during an October raid in Philadelphia, an ICE deportation officer heard gunshots and helped apply a tourniquet to a man shot in the left thigh.
Off-duty aid in Nuevo, California (October 2025): The Daily Wire reported that an off-duty ICE officer used a personal first-aid kit to control bleeding and stabilize a man suffering a neck wound, while directing the victim’s son to call 911.
ICE did not publish matching public releases in the materials reviewed for the Dallas, Philadelphia and Nuevo incidents, so those accounts are attributed to The Daily Wire’s reporting.
