The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Friday the arrest of a criminal illegal immigrant and member of the Latin Kings street gang accused of placing a bounty on U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino.
According to DHS, a confidential source alerted authorities on October 3, 2025, that a “hit” had been ordered against Chief Bovino by a Latin Kings member. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit identified the suspect as Juan Espinoza Martinez. He was taken into custody on October 6 in Burr Ridge, Illinois.
A third response of “LK….on him” indicates the involvement of the Latin Kings, a DHS press release stated.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Juan Espinoza Martinez with soliciting the murder of a senior federal law enforcement official.
“Depraved individuals like Juan Espinoza Martinez – who do not value human life and threaten law enforcement– do NOT belong in this country. We will not allow criminal gangs to put hits on U.S. government officials and our law enforcement officers,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
“Thanks to ICE and our federal law enforcement partners, this thug is off our streets and behind bars. These attacks on our brave law enforcement officers must END. Secretary Noem has been crystal clear: If you threaten or lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed Sunday that some federal officers have been targeted by “gangs, cartel members, and known terrorist organizations” who have put bounties on their heads.
During an interview appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend, Noem warned that bounties being placed on federal agents’ heads mark a new “unprecedented” threat.
Noem described a violent incident in Chicago on Saturday that ended with agents shooting an armed suspect, saying that a caravan of 10 vehicles followed and cornered federal agents on duty.
“They had followed them [the agents] and gotten them cornered, pinned them down, and then our agents, when getting out of their cars, they tried to run them over, and had semi-automatic handguns on them to where our agents had to protect themselves, and shots were fired, and an individual ended up in the hospital that was attacking these officers,” Noem said, adding it was a “very dangerous situation.”
“This individual had threatened them previously and had told them that they all needed to go down and shouted expletives at them,” Noem said.
Noem said that intelligence reports have indicated the attackers were organized and had previously threatened agents.
“We have specific officers and agents that have bounties that have been put out on their heads. It’s been $2,000 to kidnap them, $10,000 to kill them,” the DHS secretary said. “They’ve released their pictures. They’ve sent them between their networks, and it’s an extremely dangerous situation and unprecedented.”
When asked who was behind the bounties, Noem said that “it was gangs, cartel members and known terrorist organizations, so foreign terrorist organizations as deemed by the president but also ones that we have known for many, many years.”
She added: “They are making sure that they know which officers are out there and being extremely effective, and they want to take them down, because they want to try to stop the operations that are going, that are keeping them from making money off their criminal networks.”
“Make no mistake, this isn’t just about protesting free speech or that they don’t like that people out here are upholding the law of our country. They’re actually going out there and saying kill these people and we’ll give you this much money to do it,” Noem said.
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