Democrats spent years calling ICE the Gestapo.
Now one of their foot soldiers just firebombed the federal building that houses ICE's New York offices – and CNN's panel wanted to talk about January 6th.
Scott Jennings had a question for them, and nobody on that set could answer it.
The Anti-ICE Firebomb Attack on New York's Federal Building
Monday morning, 43-year-old Andrew Arrabaca pushed a cart loaded with gasoline, six incendiary devices, two axes, a hammer, a machete, and three knives to the employee entrance of 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan, which has offices for ICE.
He poured gasoline on the sidewalk and ignited it.
And fired an airsoft rifle at people entering the building.
Three people suffered injuries – including a civilian who had come to the building for an immigration hearing.
FBI Assistant Director James Barnacle told reporters at a press conference that Arrabaca had specifically targeted the building and told investigators "he was OK if he hurt or killed people going in and out of the building, whether they were federal employees or civilians."
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force opened an investigation.
Arrabaca's cart carried an anti-ICE message.
Scott Jennings Confronts CNN Over Democrat Rhetoric and ICE Violence
On CNN's NewsNight, Scott Jennings backed Tom Homan's assessment that the attack was not an isolated incident.
"Of course I agree with Homan, and it's not a single guy," Jennings said. "There's been a massive spike in violence against ICE agents, really against all law enforcement, specifically federal law enforcement."
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told Congress in April that death threats against ICE personnel increased more than 8,000 percent in fiscal year 2025. Assaults jumped more than 1,400 percent.
Jennings named the people Homan said were responsible – members of Congress, governors, and New York City's own mayor, Zohran Mamdani – for using language that pushed people toward violence.
"It's despicable," Jennings said. "These people are effectively political vigilantes. They've been programmed by the Left to go out and take matters into their own hands, and it ought to be stopped right now."
He also noted the irony of Mamdani condemning the attack after building a political movement on anti-law enforcement rhetoric.
"I don't know how you can reconcile those positions," Jennings said, "and I don't suppose they'll even try."
Then host Fredericka Whitfield floated whether ICE's actions – not Democrat messaging – might be driving the violence.
Jennings stopped her cold.
"So if you believe that a government agency is doing something that you don't like, and your choices are A, cast a vote, B, use your words or C, go set off an incendiary device at the federal building in New York City, and you pick C – there's no justification for this."
Keith Boykin's Answer Was January 6th
Former Clinton White House aide Keith Boykin skipped the question entirely.
January 6th was his answer.
Trump pardons. Trump rhetoric. Trump, Trump, Trump — while a man with six bombs and a machete sat in federal custody.
Jennings kept returning to the actual story on the table: a man with a firebomb, axes, a machete, and three knives who wanted to kill federal employees at an ICE office in New York City.
"Do you have any comment on the actual news story?" Jennings asked.
Boykin said he condemned political violence.
"What else is there to say except I condemn it?" he replied.
Jennings said: "Yeah."
The exchange was over in one word.
Boykin's deflection was not an accident – it was the entire Democrat strategy on display. When a left-wing activist commits an act of political violence against federal law enforcement, change the subject. Blame Trump. Run out the clock.
What Boykin could not do was explain how years of elected Democrats calling ICE a terrorist organization, urging people to resist and not comply, and comparing immigration enforcement to Nazi Germany played no role in what Andrew Arrabaca did Monday morning.
Tom Homan predicted this. In July 2026, he said directly: "There's still going to be more bloodshed unless they shut their mouth and let ICE enforce the laws that they enacted."
Twenty-six Federal Plaza has been a target of extremists for years. The FBI official who briefed reporters said so out loud.
The Democrat Party had nothing to say when one of their foot soldiers got arrested outside an ICE office with six bombs and a machete.
Sources:
- "Anti-ICE suspect arrested outside New York City federal building after lighting incendiary device," The Washington Times, July 20, 2026.
- "Scott Jennings: Democrats' Anti-ICE Rhetoric Is Despicable, They Are Political Vigilantes," Grabien, July 20, 2026.
- "Homan Is Right: Dems Fuel the Bloodshed, Not ICE," PJ Media, July 16, 2026.
- "8000% Increase in Death Threats Against ICE Law Enforcement," Department of Homeland Security, October 30, 2025.
- "Radical Rhetoric by Sanctuary Politicians Leads to an Unprecedented 1,300% Increase in Assaults Against ICE Officers," Department of Homeland Security, January 8, 2026.
- Testimony of Todd M. Lyons, Acting ICE Director, House Appropriations Subcommittee, April 16, 2026.