Virginia Brothers Arrested for Alleged Plot to Kill ICE Officers

Two U.S. citizens were arrested for allegedly planning attacks against police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the Department of Homeland Security said in a Nov. 26 statement.

The arrested individuals are John Wilson Bennett, who has served as the Assistant Principal of Kempsville High School, Virginia, since 2009, and his brother Mark Booth Bennett.

The DHS said Virginia Beach Police Department launched an investigation on Nov. 17 after an off-duty Norfolk police officer overheard the pair discussing plans to “kill police officers and ICE agents,” the department said.

“Mark Bennett was also overheard saying he was planning to meet with likeminded individuals in Las Vegas, Nevada, to purchase firearms with explosive rounds to carry out the attacks.”

On Nov. 19, Mark was arrested at the Norfolk International Airport, from where he was scheduled to take a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina, en route to Los Angeles, according to the DHS. John was arrested on the same day in Virginia Beach.

“It’s chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers—offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet proof vests,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said. “Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars.”

McLaughlin said officers were facing stalking, online doxxing, bounties on their heads, and threats to families as they carried out their duties.

The Epoch Times was unable to ascertain whether the Bennet brothers have been assigned legal representation.

In a Nov. 24 statement, the DHS said that between Jan. 21 and Nov. 21, there were 238 reported assaults against ICE law enforcement officers, a 1,153 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Over the past 10 months, officers and agents have faced a “dangerously escalating pattern” of violence, including vehicle ramming, gun fires, biting during arrests, and Molotov cocktails, according to the DHS.

The DHS said in an Oct. 14 post on X that people who “dox, threaten or lay hands on our officers” will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“Like everyone else, our [ICE] law enforcement officers just want to go home to their families at night,” the agency said.

The DHS had earlier revealed that criminals and groups linked to Antifa were involved in identifying ICE officers in Oregon.

The administration’s immigration enforcement activities have been criticized by lawmakers from the Democratic Party.

In a Nov. 18 letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) asked that ICE agents be removed from the city of Memphis, arguing immigrants were “not part of our crime problem.”

Cohen said that while the stated purpose of the Memphis Safe Taskforce, in which DHS is involved, is to end street and violent crime, there have been reports of negative impacts on residents.

“I have heard numerous reports of ICE agents terrorizing innocent, hardworking community residents, who support our society and economy, and do not fit the bill of being criminals,” Cohen wrote.

“They certainly are not ‘the worst of the worst’ like murders, rapists and sex offenders. Data provided directly from the taskforce demonstrates that most of the arrests are for non-violent related offenses. In fact, most are traffic citations.”

In a Nov. 25 statement, the DHS criticized claims that ICE was not targeting the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants.

“Despite what the media and Democrats claim, 70 percent of all ICE arrests are of illegal aliens convicted or charged with a crime in the U.S.,” McLaughlin said. “This statistic doesn’t even include the illegal aliens we arrest who are convicted of crimes in their home counties [sic], foreign fugitives, and gang members who just lack a rap sheet in the U.S.”