ICE arrests previously deported Mexican man who allegedly threatened to shoot ICE officers

ICE agents arrested Cesar Diaz-Rodriguez, 30, on Oct.8, 2019, in Houston, Texas, after receiving tips that he had threatened to shoot officers with their agency. He had previously been deported in 2017 and had illegally entered the U.S. five times. less ICE agents arrested Cesar Diaz-Rodriguez, 30, on Oct.8, 2019, in Houston, Texas, after receiving tips that he had threatened to shoot officers with their agency. He had previously been deported in 2017 and had ... more Photo: U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement Photo: U.S. Immigration And Customs Enforcement Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close ICE arrests previously deported Mexican man who allegedly threatened to shoot ICE officers 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old Mexican man who they said had illegally entered the United States five times and, according to anonymous tips, threatened to shoot ICE officers.

Cesar Diaz-Rodriguez was charged with illegal re-entry, a felony.

He had been deported in October 2017 after being convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm. Diaz-Rodriguez had been voluntarily returned to Mexico -- a form of deportation without an official removal order -- twice in September 2004 and once in October 2011.

ICE officials said in a news release that they received several anonymous tips last month that Diaz-Rodriquez had threatened to shoot ICE officers. They declined to provide more information about the threats, citing the need to protect the identity of the tipsters.

ICE has become the face of many of President Donald Trump's harshest immigration policies, spurring escalating protests against the agency with some Democratic lawmakers even calling to abolish it.

In August, shots were fired at two ICE offices in San Antonio. No one was injured, and the FBI is investigating.

Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI in San Antonio, said it was a "very targeted attack" at ICE offices in the buildings.

"To fire indiscriminately into any building, let alone a federal facility, is not an act of protest. It's an act of violence ... against the federal government that could have resulted in the assassination of a federal employee," Combs said. "That will not be accepted."

In July, a 69-year-old armed man was killed by Washington state police after throwing incendiary devices at an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, and and trying to set a commercial-size propane tank on fire.

Willem Van Spronsen had been arrested last year at a protest at the same detention center, and ICE officials called the man an "anti-immigration-enforcement protester."

lomi.kriel@chron.com