Jan. 14, 2026

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

 

Attacks Against ICE Officers Up A Staggering 1,347% As Left-Wing Activists Stir Up Mob Mentality 

By Manzanita Miller 

The Jan. 7 altercation between an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer and a woman who was reportedly interfering with a federal investigation appears to be the culmination of months of vilification of ICE and dangerous encouragement from left-wing politicians to “fight” the department.   

Left-wing activism stirring up outrage against ICE has vilified the organization and that appears to have contributed to a rise in violent crime against federal officers. Violence against ICE officers was up a disturbing 1,347 percent in 2025 according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On top of the rise in violence against officers, activists are putting themselves in deadly circumstances by interfering with federal officers attempting to do their jobs. 

Activist Renee Nicole Good — who was reportedly part of an anti-ICE activist group in Minneapolis — was shot and killed on Jan. 7 after accelerating her SUV while officer Jonathan Ross was in front of it, hitting Ross. The incident occurred after Good reportedly blocked traffic, deliberately attempting to impede the federal officers that were in Minneapolis investigating a fraud case.  

According to sobering new statistics released by DHS Jan. 8, attacks against ICE officers have escalated significantly since President Donald Trump began delivering on his immigration promise to deport illegal aliens and secure the border. DHS reports 275 individual assaults on ICE officers between Jan. 20 – Dec. 31, 2025. During the same period in 2024, under Joe Biden’s seemingly dormant homeland security department, there were only 19 incidents against ICE officers. This is a disturbing 1,347 percent increase in assaults against officers.  

In addition to a massive rise in assaults against officers, DHS reports a startling 3,200 percent increase in vehicular attacks. Between Jan. 21, 2025 – Jan. 7, 2026, a total of 66 separate vehicular attacks against ICE officers were reported, compared to two incidents in the previous year.   

The officer involved in the shooting in Minneapolis, Jonathan Ross, was seriously injured in June 2025, while attempting to apprehend an illegal immigrant and sex offender. Convicted child sex offender Roberto Carlos attempted to flee law enforcement and struck Ross with his car, dragging Ross 300 feet. Ross suffered serious injuries including over 30 stitches. 

In a response to the mainstream media’s blatant lack of transparency regarding the Minneapolis incident, Vice President J.D. Vance explained in a statement on Jan. 8 that ICE was in Minneapolis investigating a fraud ring that is allegedly defrauding American taxpayers, and Good was interfering with that investigation. “That woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America”, Vance stated. “That woman is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.”  

As President Donald Trump has begun delivering his promise to the American people to deport illegal criminals and secure the border, there has been immediate backlash from prominent Democrats and the formation of anti-ICE “activist” groups like the one Renee Nicole Good was reportedly involved in.   

Some of the most incendiary rhetoric against ICE has come from Minnesota, where the tragic escalation resulted in Good’s death. 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz referred to ICE as, “Trump’s modern-day gestapo”, at a University of Minnesota commencement address in May, 2025.  

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey demanded that ICE, “get the f**k out of Minneapolis” in an address after Good’s passing. 

However, Democrats from other regions have been equally incendiary with their anti-ICE rhetoric. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stated that Democrats would fight President Trump’s agenda, “legislatively and in the courts”, but he also added that leftists would be fighting President Trump’s agenda “in the streets”. The statement came shortly after President Trump was sworn into office.   

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said in July, 2025, it is “inspiring” when she sees activists encircle ICE officers in courtrooms, obstructing the ability of officers to do their jobs. 

In September, 2025 the White House released a list of 30 prominent Democrats including mayors, members of Congress and governors making derogatory statements about ICE and at times calling for violence and obstruction.  

These left-wing politicians, and the “activists” they rile up, pose a direct threat to ICE officers completing their jobs in the field, and they pose a serious threat to the safety of the American people by interfering with the ability of federal officers to find and remove dangerous criminals. DHS recently released a list of perpetrators the organization removed from Minnesota the weekend after Good was shot attempting to obstruct ICE’s activities. The list includes child abusers, drug traffickers and perpetrators of domestic violence, individuals anyone thinking rationally would be glad to have the federal government remove. 

Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2026/01/attacks-against-ice-officers-up-a-staggering-1347-as-left-wing-activists-stir-up-mob-mentality/ 

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Cartoon: The Mobocrat Party

By A.F. Branco

Click here for a higher level resolution version.

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2026/01/cartoon-the-mobocrat-party/ 

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Video: Remembering Scott Adams

To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLuGgTv9bKg 

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Federal Reserve Should Keep Dumping Mortgage-Backed Securities To Help Bring Home Prices Down 

By Robert Romano

Shelter increased by 0.4 percent in December’s Consumer Price Index published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or at a 3.2 percent pace the past 12 months. The news comes as home prices continue to register at all-time highs, with the median home price currently at $422,000, according to a Dqydj.com analysis of National Association of Realtors, Case-Shiller and FHFA NSA Existing Home Sale Index data.

Simply put, home prices have never been so high. For homeowners, that’s great, but for prospective homebuyers, it means the American dream of home ownership for many remains elusive. 

The last time housing was this unaffordable was in 2006, right before the housing market crashed. Then, household median income according to the U.S. Census Bureau was $48,200 and the median home price was $213,706 — with income at 22.5 percent of home prices.

That’s an increasingly deteriorating situation financially for American families. Look at the 1980s: In 1984, household median income was $22,420 and the average price for an existing home was $67,000, with income accounting for 33 percent of home prices. Shelter was a lot more affordable back then. 

In the housing market crash, by 2011, it had reverted closer to its 1984 level: Median income was $50,050 but the average home price had collapsed to $172,072 — with income 29 percent of home prices.

But look at what it took to get there. A massive crash, a financial crisis for banks and 8 million Americans lost their jobs in one of the worst recessions in modern history. 

Right before Covid, in 2019, it wasn’t so bad: Median income was $68,700 and the average home price was $260,772 — with income 26.3 percent of home prices.

And in 2024, household median income was $83,730 and the average price of an existing home is $411,000 — with income at 20.3 percent of home prices. Unaffordability and inflation was one of the major reasons former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the election. 

Besides boosting homebuilding — housing starts were unfortunately down to just 1.2 million annually in October 2025, a three-year low — one item that has been wielded by the Federal Reserve since the housing crisis of the late-2000s to influence home prices has been to purchase mortgage-backed securities. 

In 2006, home prices peaked at about $216,000 and crashed during the financial crisis to a $169,000 by 2012, a 21.7 percent drop, creating a negative equity situation that perversely incentivized Americans to default on their mortgages, exacerbating the problem as demand collapsed.

So, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke undertook a new program to purchase mortgage-backed securities to take the housing off of the books of the banks and to clean up the mess. The Fed purchased $1.1 trillion off the bat, sold some, but resumed buying again in 2012, and home values finally took off again — and never really stopped. 

By 2016, the Fed was up to $1.7 trillion mortgage securities held, home prices continued appreciating and only began unwinding in 2018 until the 2020 Covid recession. And then, inexplicably in hindsight, the Fed resumed buying mortgage securities again peaking at $2.7 trillion in 2022, and prices skyrocketed. 

Then, the Fed did not begin unwinding until 2022, and is now down to $2 trillion. It’s still a lot. Fortunately, price increases have slowed down while the Fed has been unwinding its housing portfolio.

Which is why the Fed should keep dumping the mortgage securities. It doesn’t need them, the housing market doesn’t need the Fed to still hold onto them — there is no negative equity crisis right now — and young Americans who want to buy their first home actually really need prices to stay flat so their incomes have a chance to catch up. 

Just think, a 20 percent down payment on the current median priced home would be more than $80,000. Who’s got that kind of money lying around? Rich people, that’s who. And they’re not rich.

Now, there is a cost to the Fed selling the mortgage securities, which is a slight increase in mortgage interest rates above where they might have been otherwise, something President Donald Trump has also been deeply committed to cutting. And rightly so. It makes sense. Besides home values being too high, very high interest rates can also discourage home purchases. 

But that’s the trade off if you’re trying to help tame prices. When interest rates were falling in recent history, that’s when home values have surged. Therefore, one of the prospects of rates coming down now is that it could mean asset values like housing begin to surge again. Again, barring a homebuilding surge, that might be where we are right now. The Fed can help hold prices back, but it means higher rates, or it can help slash rates, but it might not be able to do both. 

Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation. 

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2026/01/federal-reserve-should-keep-dumping-mortgage-backed-securities-to-help-bring-home-prices-down/