{"id":2527589,"date":"2025-12-31T19:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ice-accuses-mainstream-media-reporter-of-inciting-violence-against-federal-agents-with-controversial-post\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T19:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:09:44","slug":"ice-accuses-mainstream-media-reporter-of-inciting-violence-against-federal-agents-with-controversial-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ice-accuses-mainstream-media-reporter-of-inciting-violence-against-federal-agents-with-controversial-post\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE Accuses Mainstream Media Reporter of &#8216;Inciting Violence Against Federal Agents&#8217; with Controversial Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fice-accuses-mainstream-media-reporter-of-inciting-violence-against-federal-agents-with-controversial-post%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2527589&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article describes a social-media spat sparked by Politico reporter Josh Gerstein&#8217;s comment that efforts to investigate allegedly fraudulent Somali-run day cares in Minnesota &#8220;intersect with robust stand-your-ground laws,&#8221; implying such probes could lead to violence. That remark followed revelations-pushed by internet sleuth Nick Shirley-about many day cares collecting millions from Minnesota&#8217;s Child Care Assistance program despite appearing not to provide services. ICE publicly rebuked Gerstein, accusing him of inciting violence against federal agents.Fact-checkers and commenters pointed out that Gerstein mischaracterized the law: Minnesota is a duty-to-retreat state, not a stand\u2011your\u2011ground state, so the legal claim was inaccurate. Gerstein replied that noting a risk is not the same as advocating for it, but his clarification drew widespread criticism and skepticism.The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-defends-masked-ice-agents-after-bowser-rebuke\/\" title=\"White House defends masked ... agents after Bowser rebuke\">piece highlights tensions<\/a> between reporters, immigration enforcement, and public reactions amid a high-profile fraud scandal.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whether you&rsquo;re pro- or anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement, both sides should be able to agree that ICE has its fair  of criticisms.<\/p>\n<p>Some of those criticisms are in good faith and aimed at improving the group&rsquo;s operations.<\/p>\n<p>Other criticisms? They are apparently off-base enough that ICE itself has to respond with a biting rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>An example of that latter type of criticism was recently proffered by Politico&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-releases-footage-of-qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley\/\" title=\"DOJ releases footage of &#039;QAnon Shaman&#039; Jacob Chansley\">senior legal affairs reporter<\/a>, Josh Gerstein.<\/p>\n<p>Gerstein took to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/joshgerstein\/status\/2005863545360068709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> and posted: &ldquo;At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>The X post was a response to the growing furor over the Minnesota <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/breaking-doj-announces-98-total-arrests-minnesota-fraud-case-85-somali-descent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fraud scandal<\/a>, which has utterly engulfed the discourse surrounding the Gopher State.<\/p>\n<p>Internet sleuth Nick Shirley sparked a firestorm of controversy over one such example of the fraud, which involved day care centers in the state&rsquo;s Somali communities collecting millions of dollars from Minnesota&rsquo;s taxpayer-funded Child Care Assistance Program, despite appearing to not actually be taking care of children and\/or providing any services.<\/p>\n<p>Shirley&rsquo;s investigation involved him physically going to many of these <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >allegedly fraudulent day cares<\/a>, including one whose sign identified itself as the Quality &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/infamous-minneapolis-day-care-finally-fixes-sign-still-didnt-get-quite-right\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Learing<\/a>&rdquo; Center.<\/p>\n<p>Given that context, it&rsquo;s clear what Gerstein was implying: Efforts to hold immigrants accountable can &mdash; and likely will &mdash; lead to violence.<\/p>\n<p>And ICE wasn&rsquo;t having any of it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">You would think a &ldquo;Senior Legal Affairs Reporter&rdquo; for POLITICO would know better than to something inciting violence against federal agents. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u8V0xVJjFY\">https:\/\/t.co\/u8V0xVJjFY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICEgov\/status\/2006062171134849220?\">December 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You would think a &lsquo;Senior Legal Affairs Reporter&rsquo; for POLITICO would know better than to something inciting violence against federal agents,&rdquo; the ICE X account fired back at Gerstein.<\/p>\n<p>While the Politico reporter never explicitly mentioned ICE, it&rsquo;s clear that immigration enforcement officials felt that Gerstein&rsquo;s rhetoric was part of a larger campaign demonizing anyone who would dare to get to the bottom of illegal immigration shenanigans.<\/p>\n<p>But even if he wasn&rsquo;t referring to ICE, Gerstein&rsquo;s post had one major issue: He was completely mischaracterizing how &ldquo;stand your ground&rdquo; laws operate.<\/p>\n<p>As the Community Note under Gerstein&rsquo;s post explained, &ldquo;Stand-your-ground laws remove the duty to retreat from a threat when a person is in a place they have a legal right to be.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Knocking on the door of a supposedly public business does not constitute a threat, so stand-your-ground could not be invoked as a defense.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Others <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/2006037168196636782?%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2006037168196636782%7Ctwgr%5E83134827a4692e376e244ff8b9120e8975242e02%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fmainstream-media-reporter-slammed-insane-suggestion-somali-day-care-owners-turning-violence%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pointed out<\/a> that Minnesota is not a &ldquo;stand your ground&rdquo; state. It&rsquo;s a &ldquo;duty to retreat&rdquo; state, meaning the threatened person has to first try to escape the threat before being entitled to use deadly force.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly enough, Gerstein&rsquo;s follow-up to his original post seemed to imply the Politico reporter was aware of how many anti-ICE individuals might construe it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">To observe that something is likely to happen or there&rsquo;s a serious risk of it happening is not to advocate for it happening<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshgerstein\/status\/2006063832016552100?\">December 30, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;To observe that something is likely to happen or there&rsquo;s a serious risk of it happening is not to advocate for it happening,&rdquo; Gerstein posted.<\/p>\n<p>A cursory glance at the responses under that post showed that swathes of readers weren&rsquo;t buying the sudden backtrack.<\/p>\n<p>And clearly, neither did ICE.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ICE faces both fair and unfair criticism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2527590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ICE-officer-.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[8364,55406,33831,44205],"class_list":["post-2527589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ice","tag-incitement","tag-mainstream-media","tag-press-freedom"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ICE-officer-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527589"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2527593,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527589\/revisions\/2527593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2527590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}