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Two brothers in Virginia have been arrested after an off-duty police officer overheard the men allegedly discussing plans to kill immigration officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.
John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett, both U.S. citizens, were arrested late last week on allegations they were planning to carry out attacks against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the department announcement said.
It said the department began an investigation Nov. 17 with the Virginia Beach Police Department after an off-duty Norfolk, Virginia, police officer reported he heard the brothers allegedly discussing plans to “kill police officers and ICE agents.”
Mark Bennett also was overheard allegedly saying he was going to Las Vegas to meet with other people to purchase firearms to carry out the attacks, according to the department statement. It said Mark Bennett was arrested Nov. 19 at the Norfolk International Airport, where he was set to fly to Las Vegas. Later that day, it said, John Bennett, an assistant principal at Kempsville High School, was arrested in Virginia Beach.
Both of the men were charged with “conspiracy to commit malicious wounding,” according to court records.
“It’s chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers — offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet proof vests,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs, in a statement.
The brothers and their attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
During a hearing last week in a court in Virginia Beach General District Court, their attorneys said the conversation was hearsay and that the brothers posed no threat to the community, according to Virginia news outlet 13 News Now. The attorneys said Mark Bennett was traveling to Las Vegas for a Formula 1 race before he was apprehended at the Norfolk airport, according to the news report.
They were released on home confinement under pretrial supervision, according to the news report.
McLaughlin’s statement highlighted what she described as a sharp increase in assaults and death threats against immigration officers, including cases of bounties being placed on their heads, threats to their families, stalking and online doxxing.
The arrest comes at a time of heightened tension in the country over federal immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security officials have ramped up enforcement actions under President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant crackdown highlighted by mass arrests, including the targeting of Democratic-run cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles for sweeping operations.
The Virginia Beach Police Department confirmed the arrests in a statement and Chief Paul Neudigate called the allegations “incredibly alarming.”
