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Trump administration officials are criticizing Democrats and “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for “habitual lies and demonization” of federal law enforcement officials and for pushing a story about ICE agents using a 5-year-old child as bait.
The dispute comes as ICE faces a surge of violent attacks, including a shooting on Wednesday at an ICE field office in Dallas.
On Tuesday, Omar shared a since-deleted news post on social media about the family of Guatemalan illegal immigrant, Edwards Hip Mejia, accusing ICE agents of using his autistic child as bait to arrest him in Massachusetts.
A video obtained by Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra shows the girl sitting beside a law enforcement SUV, holding a bottle, while surrounded by several male officers outside her home in Leominster last Tuesday. NBC reported that the father, Edwards Hip Mejia, told his wife he believed he was being followed and drove home. Once there, he allegedly ran toward the parking lot, but agents “grabbed” their daughter, the wife told Telemundo.
Omar reposted the article on X, commenting, “This is vile and beyond cruel. Abolish ICE.”
DHS REJECTS NBC REPORT CLAIMING ICE USED 5-YEAR-OLD AUTISTIC GIRL AS BAIT TO ARREST FATHER
Left: An “anti-ICE” message written on a bullet found after a fatal shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas. Right: Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has recently called to “abolish ICE.” (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo; FBI)
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called Omar’s statement “a vile lie” and the story a “disgusting smear.”
According to McLaughlin, “ICE agents NEVER used a 5-year-old girl as ‘bait.’”
She said Mejia “abandoned his 5-year-old daughter in the car” and that “officers helped rescue the child and called local police to report the abandonment.”
In response to Omar’s call to abolish ICE, McLaughlin said the Democrat’s “habitual lies and demonization of our law enforcement is what’s cruel.”
“The criminal illegal alien target — with previous arrests for domestic abuse and strangulation, among other charges — ABANDONED his own child in a car,” said McLaughlin. “The target, Edwards Hip Mejia, ignored law enforcement emergency lights to pull over and drove back to his house. He fled from the car, gave officers the double middle finger, and darted inside his house.”
“Disgusting smears like these peddled by the media are leading to a 1000% increase in assaults against our brave law enforcement,” she added in another post.
According to NBC Boston, local police recovered the girl when they arrived and returned her to her family. Mejia was ultimately detained two days later, his wife told Telemundo, and is being held in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
KASH PATEL REACTS TO DALLAS ICE SHOOTING: ‘IT HAS TO END’
DHS officials rejected a report that ICE agents used a 5-year-old girl with autism as bait to get her father, an illegal immigrant, to turn himself in. Pictured: ICE and FBI agents arrest an illegal immigrant in Indiana. (@ICE via X)
According to DHS, ICE agents are currently facing a 1,000% increase in assaults.
On Wednesday, a gunman carrying rounds with anti-ICE messages opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas, killing one detainee and injuring another. Sources familiar with the investigation identified the alleged attacker as Joshua Jahn, 29. Authorities said Jahn took his own life. The detainee who survived was hospitalized in critical condition.
Jahn fired “indiscriminately” at the ICE building, as well as at a van in the sally port where the victims were shot, the Department of Homeland Security said. The three detainees were in an unmarked transport van when they were shot, before Jahn took his own life around 7 a.m., according to the sources.
WHO IS JOSHUA JAHN, SHOOTER IN DEADLY DALLAS ICE FACILITY ATTACK?
Law enforcement personnel respond at the scene of a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, Texas, Sept. 24, 2025. (Reuters/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Following the shooting, McLaughlin posted on X, calling on people to pray for the victims of the attack and for an end to attacks on ICE personnel.
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“Like everyone else, our ICE law enforcement officers just want to go home to their families at night,” said McLaughlin. “They are fathers and mothers. Sons, and daughters, brothers and sisters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.”
“The violence and dehumanization of these men and women must stop,” she added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Omar’s office for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano, Greg Wehner and John Roberts contributed to this report.
