Members of a pro-Palestinian radical leftist organization who allegedly planned to carry out a series of bombings in California beginning on New Year’s Eve also plotted to attack Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to an affidavit obtained by The Daily Wire.
Authorities arrested Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai around December 12 in Lucerne Valley, California, where they were allegedly planning to test explosive devices in preparation for their future attacks. They now each face charges of conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.
Both Page and Carroll allegedly discussed plans to target ICE agents and their vehicles with pipe bombs starting in January or February, according to the affidavit. Their future attack plans “would take some of them [ICE agents] out and scare the rest of them,” Carroll said.
The four accused are alleged members of the “Turtle Island Liberation Front,” which officials describe as anti-government and anti-capitalist. They allegedly planned to simultaneously bomb five sites in Los Angeles and Orange County at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The group arranged to place backpacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) inside them at the various locations, which included two American companies, according to the court documents.
“After an intense investigation, the Department of Justice, working with our @FBI, prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot in the Central District of California (Orange County and Los Angeles),” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X Monday.
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“This was an incredible effort by our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the @FBI to ensure Americans can live in peace. We will continue to pursue these terror groups and bring them to justice,” she added.
Since the Trump administration commenced its mass deportation campaign, ICE has faced an 8,000% surge in death threats and a more than 1,100% jump in assaults, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
A shooter opened fire on a Texas ICE facility in September, killing two detainees and himself as he tried to target federal officers.
A group of alleged Antifa anarchists lured federal agents outside of a nearby facility on July 4 using fireworks before firing off bullets, resulting in one local officer being injured.