Melania Trump contacted the Secret Service on Wednesday morning about a threatening tweet concerning her son, posted by from actor Peter Fonda.
Fonda has taken a harsh stance against the new “zero tolerance” immigration policy enacted by the Justice Department, which separates children from their parents at the southern U.S. border. On Wednesday morning, many felt he crossed the line in his outrage when he posted a tweet about 12-year-old Barron Trump.
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“WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL WILL STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT ASS— SHE IS MARRIED TO,” Fonda wrote. “90 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ON THE SAME WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY. F—.”
The tweet has since been deleted. It did not sit well with the first lady, according to a report by The Hill. Melania’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, gave a statement saying that the post had been pointed out to the Secret Service.
“The tweet is sick and irresponsible,” Grisham added.
Fonda has been calling for a massive organization of protests across the country. In a series of tweets, he has postulated that the combined effort of 90 million people would be enough to shock lawmakers into action.
However, in the early hours of Wednesday morning he was accused of taking it too far. In addition to his tweet about Barron, He proposed violence against White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen. He also suggested that his followers should find the children of ICE agents and frighten them.
“WE SHOULD HACK THIS SYTEM, GET THE ADDRESSES OF THE ICE AGENTS CBP AGENTS AND SURROUND THEIR HOMES IN PROTEST,” he wrote. “WE SHOULD FIND OUT WHAT SCHOOLS THEIR CHILDREN GO TO AND SURROUND THE SCHOOLS IN PROTEST. THESE AGENTS ARE DOING THIS CUZ THEY WANT TO DO IT. THEY LIKE DOING THIS. F—.”
The tweets were roundly condemned on social media, though they received little attention compared to the atrocities Fonda was tweeting about.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been instructed by the Justice Department to detain children crossing into the U.S. at the southern border separately from their parents. The kids are being held in temporary facilities with no staff or equipment to care for them, and there is no process in place to reunite them with their families.
On Wednesday, the president announced he would sign and executive order to end the family separation practice, though the rule is not based in law and requires no executive order to be undone.
