Authorities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have launched an investigation into an image that recently surfaced on campus, depicting violence against ICE agents. The university’s police department confirmed the inquiry on Thursday.
The controversial image, initially discovered by a student, was shared on social media platform X by the Wisconsin College Republicans. It portrays a figure in a vest labeled “ICE” being shot in the head, with blood forming a thought bubble behind the character.
The accompanying text on the image reads, “Speak their language,” followed by, “You can’t vote away fascism.”
A photo of this poster, reportedly found on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on November 12, 2025, was obtained and shared by Fox News Digital.
In addition to the campus poster, police are examining similar graffiti found in the city of Madison. The Wisconsin College Republicans have also posted images of this graffiti on social media.
Police are also investigating graffiti in the city of Madison with similar messaging. Photos of that graffiti were also posted on social media by the Wisconsin College Republicans.
Nick Jacobs is the chairman of the Wisconsin College Republicans and a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
He told Fox News Digital violent rhetoric has appeared multiple times across the University of Wisconsin system since Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination Sept. 10.
Students walk to classes on campus along State Street with the State Capitol in the background at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Oct. 23, 2019. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn )
“I mean, it’s really bad,” he said. “It’s almost celebrated among students to write threatening things about college Republicans, about ICE agents, about Republicans.
“At my school recently, we did a chalk memorial for Charlie Kirk, and leftists wrote what was on the bullet casing an hour after we did it.”
Bullet casings recovered from alleged Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson were riddled with left-wing messaging, including the title of a popular Antifa song.
Bascom Hall sits atop Bascom Hill at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. (Kevin Koeppen/Getty Images)
“So, this is not just something that’s at big state schools. It’s not something at Ivy Leagues. I mean, this is something that’s really pervasive to the entire education system, which is terrible,” Jacobs said. “It’s never been this bad.”
Jacobs said the UW system needs to be more vocal in its opposition to political violence. He also noted that, on his campus, when George Floyd was killed at the hands of police, the school offered counseling to students.
“But when somebody who is very similar to a lot of students is killed on a college campus, radio silence,” Jacobs said. “That does not sit right with me.”
The entrance to the agriculture building at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. (Getty Images)
After Kirk’s slaying, a UW-River Falls professor, Trevor Tomesh, went viral for making the same accusation, saying the system offered no statement on Kirk’s death.
“The fact that Charlie was killed on a college campus for expressing his opinions and ideas — the one place in society that’s sole purpose is to express opinions and ideas — should be a watershed moment for all universities,” he said in the viral post. “Every single member of every single university community — faculty, administrators, staff and students — should be lamenting this as it spells the death of the university.”
When questioned by Fox News Digital more than a month after Kirk’s killing, UW-River Falls condemned violence but said it was following the UW system’s guidelines on institutional neutrality regarding broader statements about the assassination.
“We understand that questions have been raised about not issuing a formal public response. UW–River Falls adheres to the recently enacted Institutional Statements Policy of the Universities of Wisconsin that took effect last June. This policy is rooted in the principle of institutional neutrality wherein such statements should be limited to matters ‘that directly affect the operations and core mission of the university and should maintain viewpoint neutrality in any reference to any matter.’”
