Feds say Arizona suspect vandalized ICE facility and attempted to ignite lobby area

An Arizona antheral is facing national charges aft prosecutors said helium vandalized and attempted to acceptable occurrence to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) installation by utilizing a propane vessel and torch to ignite materials wrong the building.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said Gerardo Mendoza-Acoltzi of Avondale was indicted by a national expansive assemblage connected charges of malicious harm to national spot and willful depredation against spot of the United States.

Court documents assertion Mendoza-Acoltzi broke a model astatine the ICE spot earlier attempting to ignite the gathering conscionable aft 1 a.m. connected Feb. 21, 2026.

Federal authorities said surveillance video showed Mendoza-Acoltzi arriving astatine the installation soon earlier midnight and unloading a propane vessel adjacent the beforehand entrance. Prosecutors said helium aboriginal returned, smashed a lobby model with the propane vessel and utilized a torch connected to the vessel to ignite model shades wrong the building.

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Broken solid is seen wrong an ICE installation successful Surprise, Arizona, pursuing an alleged vandalism and attempted arson attack, according to national prosecutors. (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona)

An ICE-owned warehouse successful Arizona was recovered damaged connected Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, according to authorities. (Google Maps)

Investigators besides alleged Mendoza-Acoltzi arranged rocks extracurricular the installation to spell an anti-ICE connection earlier leaving the area.

Federal prosecutors said Mendoza-Acoltzi was arrested May 7 and made his archetypal quality successful national tribunal soon afterward.

Fox News antecedently reported that the FBI was investigating "significant transgression damage" astatine the national ICE warehouse installation aft vandals targeted the spot with anti-law enforcement graffiti and damaged windows.

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If convicted, Mendoza-Acoltzi could look years successful national prison. Attempted arson of national spot carries a imaginable condemnation of up to 20 years down bars, portion depredation against U.S. spot besides carries further penalties.

Federal investigators released surveillance images allegedly showing a fishy extracurricular an ICE installation successful Surprise, Arizona, wherever prosecutors said an attempted arson onslaught took spot successful February 2026. (iStock ; U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona)

Federal officials person progressively warned astir threats and attacks targeting migration enforcement facilities and unit amid heightened tensions surrounding borderline information and deportation operations.

The Arizona lawsuit comes amid heightened concerns implicit threats targeting migration enforcement and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) facilities nationwide.

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Days earlier the Arizona incident, authorities and national authorities launched an probe into an attempted arson onslaught astatine a DHS bureau gathering successful Meridian, Idaho.

Surveillance imagery released by national investigators successful transportation with an alleged vandalism and attempted arson onslaught targeting an ICE installation successful Surprise, Arizona. (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona)

The fishy allegedly stole an ambulance from a bay astatine St. Luke’s West hospital, drove it done a parking batch and retrieved state cans that had been staged successful adjacent vegetation, according to Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea.

The fishy past drove the ambulance into the North Portico building, which houses DHS offices, Basterrechea said astatine the time.

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Investigators judge the fishy poured an accelerant wrong and astir the extracurricular of the ambulance but was incapable to ignite it earlier being interrupted by responding officers.

"There has been a batch of rhetoric surrounding the Department of Homeland Security leasing bureau abstraction astatine this location," Basterrechea said. "Comments connected societal media, specified arsenic ‘property harm isn't violence,’ is perfectly false. This was perfectly an enactment of violence, and if the fishy had not been interrupted, determination is nary uncertainty this gathering would person been burned, putting the lives of archetypal responders and others astatine risk."

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The charges against Mendoza-Acoltzi are allegations, and helium is presumed guiltless unless proven blameworthy successful court.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.