Two men dressed in black were caught on surveillance cameras trying to burn down Servicio de Immigration in Bakersfield, CA. This office is located in a strip mall and is a private business providing immigration services.
On Google maps, it is described as “immigration and naturalization services.” It is likely that the perps erroneously believed it was an office of the federal government’s INS.
Left-wing extremists have a history of attacking US government immigration facilities. The most famous example was Dutch-born Antifa member Willem van Spronsen‘s terrorist attack on an ICE facility in Tacoma, WA, in July 2019. Spronsen was a member of the Antifa militia group “Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club.” He went to the facility with explosives and a rifle. He detonated explosives in an apparent attempt to set the building on fire. Law enforcement shot and killed him after he aimed his rifle at them.
Much like the attempted terrorist attack by Spronsen, this attack also went sideways. The two perps get a flammable substance all over their clothes. When they try to set the building on fire, their clothes also burst into flames. They do not even drop and roll. Instead, they run away while on fire.
Kern County Fire Department Captain Andrew Freeborn says the fire at the building was extinguished in ten minutes. The owner says there are damages, and the office will be shut down for a while. He said he has another location on the other side of Bakersfield, ten miles away.
Bakersfield has experienced Antifa violence for years.
