Springfield activist Ken Pacha has once again taken to Facebook to instruct his followers on the proper way to interact with federal immigration officers. The prescription is simple, direct, and almost certainly a felony.
“Never forget. Always spit in the face of ICE agents,” Pacha wrote. “Sad little bitches deserve nothing but disrespect and derision. Fuck outta here you walking failures.”
Under 18 U.S.C. § 111, it is a federal crime to forcibly assault, resist, or interfere with a federal officer, including ICE agents, while that officer is engaged in official duties.
Simple assault without physical contact is a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. When the assault involves physical contact, the offense becomes a felony punishable by up to eight years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Courts have repeatedly held that intentionally spitting on a federal officer constitutes the required physical contact. Recent prosecutions, including a June 2025 case in Los Angeles in which a man was charged after spitting on an ICE officer, have treated the act as a felony carrying that eight-year maximum.
Pacha’s advice also collides with a clear message from the Trump administration. During the 2025 Los Angeles anti-ICE protests, President Trump stated that spitting on law enforcement would not be tolerated: “They spit, we hit… Nobody’s going to spit on our police officers. Nobody’s gonna spit on military… If that happens, they get hit very hard.”
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli later applied the same phrasing when announcing a felony charge against a man who allegedly spit on an ICE officer: “This defendant found out the hard way: When you spit, we hit — with a felony charge.”
The current administration has made it clear that spitting on federal officers invites both legal prosecution and the possibility of immediate physical force in response. Anyone following Pacha’s instruction would be opening themselves up to both.
This is not Pacha’s first public fantasy involving violence against immigration officers. As documented in The Violent Fantasies of Springfield Activist Ken Pacha, Pacha previously responded to comments about ICE agents with the instruction “Yeah buddy. Light em up!!!!” while describing the officers as “violent domestic terrorists” who were “murdering citizens openly.”
The same Ken Pacha who has spent years at Springfield City Council lecturing police officers that any physical contact with a suspect is an unforgivable abuse of power, now tells his followers that the appropriate first response to encountering an ICE officer is to spit in their face.
The standard he demands of local police is absolute restraint; the standard he recommends for federal immigration officers is immediate physical assault.