(The Center Square) – As deportation roundups and sometimes violent protests continue throughout U.S. cities, those threatening federal agents and judges continue to be arrested and convicted in Texas.
Lubbock resident Tristan Langston faces up to 15 years in prison during his sentencing hearing next week after a just convicted him of threatening to kill U.S. Secret Service agents and their family members. He was charged in March with Transmitting Threats in Interstate Commerce and Threatening a Federal Law Enforcement Officer. By August, a four-day trial was held and the jury convicted him on both counts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said.
He was convicted after the jury heard evidence that Langston had been making online threats since 2023, leading to an investigation by Secret Service agents.
“Evidence in the case revealed that Langston’s statements went well beyond mere political rhetoric or bluster and constituted true threats directed at specific federal agents,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. For months, Langston “targeted one of the agents and his family in online posts and memorialized the anger and resentment he harbored against the agents in videos and notes he maintained on his cellphone over a period of years.”
In February, he criticized two agents on X, also stating, “2nd Amendment in full effect. Gonna slit the throats of agents and their families.”
“Targeting federal agents and their families with threats of violence is not protected speech – it is a federal crime,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy Larson said. “This verdict reaffirms our office’s commitment to take all threats seriously and to hold accountable those who try to intimidate and terrorize our law enforcement partners.”
In another case, a California woman, Dolly Patterson, was sentenced to the statutory maximum sentence after pleading guilty to transmitting an interstate threat to a U.S. District judge in the Northern District of Texas.
An investigation was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service after she sent a threatening message through an online form to a federal judge in Amarillo in April 2023, stating, “Tell that anti-abortion judge he better watch his back . . . for the rest of his life!”
She was arrested, charged and acknowledged she sent the message “with the intent that it be perceived as a genuine threat and with knowledge that it would be viewed as such,” according to court records. She also acknowledged that the interstate communication “constituted a true threat to injure another person under federal law.”
“The safety of our federal judiciary is paramount,” Larson said. “Threats of violence to our judges are becoming all too common – whether made online or in person. Such threats are illegal and will be prosecuted.”
In another case, a Mexican national, Eduardo Aguilar, 23, who was illegally living in Dallas, was arrested for allegedly soliciting others to kill U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. At the time of his arrest, he had a loaded 9mm handgun in his vehicle. It is a felony for illegal foreign national to possess firearms in the U.S.
Aguilar was charged with Transmitting in Interstate or Foreign Commerce a Communication Containing a Threat because of an Oct. 9 TikTok solicitation he allegedly posted in Spanish.
The English translation reads, “I need 10 dudes in Dallas with determination (guts) who aren’t afraid to [two skull emojis]. 10K for each ICE agent.” The emojis represent death or “to die.”
“Threats against our law enforcement officers are completely unacceptable,” Larson said. “All threats against our agents and officers will be investigated thoroughly, and anyone who threatens or puts a bounty on agents will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.”
Aguilar illegally entered the U.S. in 2018 as an unaccompanied minor, according to ICE records. On Feb. 8, 2019, a federal immigration judge issued a final order of removal but he was never removed from the U.S. It would take another six years for him to be arrested.
Dallas Police officers first identified the TikTok post and shared it with FBI Dallas agents. The FBI launched an investigation with the support of Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Marshals, Homeland Security Investigations, Garland Police, ATF-Dallas and others.
Aguilar remains in federal custody. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in federal prison.
His arrest came after a shooter last month opened fire outside of an ICE detention facility in Dallas, killing two illegal foreign nationals who were detained.
Assaults against ICE officers increased by more than 1000% in just ten months this year, The Center Square reported.
