White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller slammed the acquittal of a man who was accused of offering a bounty to kill Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, saying that the “Left is fighting to legalize domestic terrorism.”
“It is a crisis of grave magnitude and it is the duty of all judges of conscience to work alongside the government to end this growing terrorism and restore even a modicum of faith in the justice system,” Miller added in a social media publication.
The Left is fighting to legalize domestic terrorism. It is a crisis of grave magnitude and it is the duty of all judges of conscience to work alongside the government to end this growing terrorism and restore even a modicum of faith in the justice system. https://t.co/1RluVnnATf
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 22, 2026
The case in question involved Juan Espinoza-Martinez, who stood accused of murder for hire. The accusation stemmed from a series of messages Espinoza-Martinez sent to Adrian Martinez, a 44-year-old construction company owner who had also worked for several years as a paid government informant. In the messages, Espinoza-Martinez sent Martinez a photo of Bovino along with text that read: “$2,000 when they grab him … $10,000 if you kill him … Latin Kings are on him.”
According to an affidavit written by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent and obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, Espinoza-Martinez agreed to speak with law enforcement after his arrest, admitting he sent the photo and message but claimed they were content he had seen circulating on social media.
Espinoza-Martinez told investigators he “did not know the name” of Bovino but knew he was “a big boss in Chicago involved in immigration enforcement.”
Despite Espinoza-Martinez’s claim that the messages were not a serious threat, prosecutors argued the Snapchat messages were not meant as a joke. They accused him of being “fixated and obsessed” with Bovino and cited additional messages in which he criticized immigration enforcement efforts.
“Those words do not indicate that this was a joke,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan told jurors during closing arguments. “Those words have meaning. They are not innocent and harmless words.”
In contrast, defense attorneys argued the government failed to present evidence showing Espinoza-Martinez took any steps to carry out a crime, characterizing the messages as “neighborhood gossip” sent one day after he returned home from work. They also argued he never followed up on the messages and did not have the money he claimed to offer.
When Espinoza-Martinez was arrested on Oct. 6 last year, DHS described him as a Latin Kings gang member and a “thug,” but U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow later barred testimony about the street gang, citing a lack of evidence tying him to the group.
Originally published on Latin Times
