At 8:20 a.m. on Sunday morning, a 43-year-old Army veteran named Andrew Arrabaca doused the front steps of 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan with gasoline, lit fireworks to ignite it, and launched them at the building housing federal immigration courts, ICE offices, and an FBI field office. He was pulling a cart loaded with two airsoft rifles, several knives, two axes, a machete, and a bag containing a written manifesto.
He also carried a sign that read "ICE Off Our Streets."
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force took over the investigation within hours. Three people were injured, including two firefighters who responded to the blaze and a bystander grazed by the fireworks. The Department of Homeland Security officially labeled Arrabaca an "anti-ICE rioter" in its statement, noting he "launched fireworks outside of 26 Federal Plaza, grazing a bystander and poured what is believed to be gasoline on the stairs."
According to the FBI, Arrabaca told investigators he "was OK if he hurt or killed people going in and out of the building." That's not a protest. That's not civil disobedience. That's a domestic terrorist attack.
Arrabaca served in the Army from 2001 to 2004 as a repairman on Patriot missile systems. Somewhere between then and now, he went from defending the country to attacking its buildings with homemade firebombs and carrying anti-ICE literature. The Washington Times reported that authorities described him as an "anti-American, anti-government extremist." FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the suspect "was carrying a sign that read 'ICE Off Our Streets'"—the same slogan that's been chanted at rallies headlined by sitting members of Congress for the better part of a decade.
Border Czar Tom Homan didn't mince words. "I said this a year ago; if the hateful rhetoric doesn't stop, there will be bloodshed," Homan said. "Unfortunately, I was right." He pointed to the years of politicians calling ICE agents "fascists" and "Nazis" and demanding we "abolish ICE" as the rhetorical pipeline that produces people like Arrabaca.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered a carefully measured response: "What occurred outside 26 Federal Plaza this morning was deeply disturbing." Deeply disturbing? Your city just experienced a terrorist attack and the best the mayor can do is call it "disturbing?" Mayor Mamdani also failed to mention the Arrabaca's hateful left-wing rhetoric, or his left-wing anti-ICE message. Surprising? No. Disturbing? Yes.
ABC News initially characterized the attack as a "scare" involving a "smoke grenade." A smoke grenade? The man poured gasoline on a federal building and lit it on fire. Three people went to the hospital. He had a machete. But sure—a scare.
This is the predictable result when mainstream politicians spend years telling their base that immigration enforcement is state-sponsored violence. You normalize the language of war against your own government's agencies, and eventually someone takes you at your word. Arrabaca didn't radicalize in a vacuum. He radicalized in a media environment where comparing ICE to the Gestapo is considered acceptable political commentary.
The "abolish ICE" crowd has spent years insisting their rhetoric is just advocacy. Arrabaca brought the gasoline, the machete, and the manifesto. He told the FBI he was fine with killing people. The only thing missing from his cart was a campaign bumper sticker.
