Police Investigate Anonymous Letter to Sonoma County GOP Threatening Violence Against ICE

Santa Rosa police are investigating the origins of a 12-page letter that was reportedly mailed to the Sonoma County Republican Party headquarters with threats of violence against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

According to the Press Democrat, the letter delivered on Jan. 22 to the party’s offices on Guerneville Road in Santa Rosa calls for a “war” to be brought against ICE and its agents amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown roiling American cities.

The screed — titled “A Real American Response to Foreign Terrorist Invasions” — includes critical tirades about ICE operations across the country and mocks federal agents for “living out their ‘Call of Duty’ fantasy army roles, only with real assault weapons,” Fox News reported. A section of the letter also contains diagrams with instructions for building homemade explosive devices, according to Fox News.

Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Patricia Seffens confirmed to KQED that the letter mailed to the North Bay Republicans was related to a separate one sent to “an out-of-state private organization that has some association with ICE.”

The Press Democrat reported that the second letter was sent to Geo Group, a global private prison company based in Florida that operates immigration detention facilities.

While Santa Rosa police have not identified the person or organization that sent the manifesto, officers from the department’s Violent Crimes Investigations Team are working with the United States Postal Inspector to track its source.

“We are also examining that letter for any forensic evidence, such as trace DNA that may have been left on the envelope or paper, anything like that,” Seffens said.

In Minneapolis, “Operation Metro Surge” has drawn broad condemnation for excessive force used by federal agents, who fatally shot two protesters in January, and spurred calls across the aisle for more accountability and funding restrictions for the Department of Homeland Security.

The Sonoma County Republican Party, which was not available for comment in time for the publication, criticized the protest movement that arose after last month’s shootings. In its January newsletter, the party echoed conspiracy theories, saying that George Soros funded the protesters in Minneapolis, and wrote:

“It appears that the people fomenting the riots in Minnesota are not interested in the safety of the community. The destruction of legal government processes is the goal since that is how governments are brought down.”

KQED’s Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.