Man arrested for threatening ICE agents on Twitter

A Massachusetts man was arrested Thursday for allegedly offering $500 to anyone who would kill an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.

The Department of Justice said it had charged Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, with one count of using interstate and foreign commerce to transmit a threat to injure another person.

Ziobrowski, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., was arrested this morning in New York and will be transported to Boston for a trial.

Authorities say that on July 2 Ziobrowski tweeted, “I am broke but will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills an ice agent. @me seriously who else can pledge get in on this let’s make this work.”

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It was not his first tweet encouraging violence, the DOJ said.

Ziobrowski previously stated his desire to “slit” Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) throat and said “Guns should only be legal for shooting the police like the second amendment intended,” according to authorities.

In March of this year, he started to target ICE agents.

“Thank you ICE for putting your lives on the line and hopefully dying I guess so there’s less of you?” he tweeted on March 1, authorities allege.

Ziobrowski’s charge carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

ICE has been at the center of the controversy over President Trump’s immigration policies, in particular the “zero tolerance” approach that has led to children being separated from families being caught crossing the southern border.

Some Democrats have called for abolishing the agency, but Republicans and Trump have defended ICE.