On Thursday afternoon, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) police confirmed that a former nurse, who had sparked controversy with her TikTok videos, is now the subject of a criminal investigation. The videos encouraged healthcare workers to administer drugs to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Malinda Cook was dismissed from her position at VCU Health on Tuesday evening following a swift internal investigation. The decision came after her videos were compiled and shared on social media platform X by the widely-followed account, LibsOfTikTok.
This social media uproar not only resulted in Cook losing her job but also led to authorities taking a closer look at her actions.
In one of the videos, Cook suggested that healthcare professionals could use an anti-paralytic drug on ICE agents, accompanied by hashtags such as “#ice,” “#resistance,” and “#sabotage.”
Accompanying images show federal agents in Minnesota on January 14, 2026, contrasted with a screenshot from Cook’s TikTok page dated January 27, 2026. (Jamie Vera/Fox News; mindarose8/TikTok)
“I came up with something good,” she remarked in the video.
“Sabotage tactic, or at least scare tactic. All the medical providers, grab some syringes with needles on the end,” she said. “Have them full of saline or succinylcholine, you know, whatever. Whatever. That will probably be a deterrent. Be safe.”
Succinylcholine is an anesthetic that causes rapid, short-acting muscle paralysis. The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
The nurse further instructed others to mix poison ivy and poison oak with water, and spray the concoction on opponents. She suggested using a water gun to spread the liquid.
“Aim for faces, hands,” she said.
Federal law enforcement agents detain a demonstrator during a raid in south Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 13, 2026. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
She then directed single women to take ICE agents on dates and sabotage their food.
“Single ladies, where these ICE guys are going, have a chance to do something, you know, not without risk, but could help the cause for sure,” she said. “Get on Tinder, get on Hinge, find these guys. They’re around. [If] they’re an ICE agent, bring some ex-lax and put it in their drinks. Get them sick. You know, nobody’s going to die. Just enough to incapacitate them and get them off the street for the next day. Highly, easily deniable.”
“I’m just saying, let’s get them where they eat,” she said. “Somebody’s not going to be supporting these guys. Where’s the hotel where they eat? Who makes that breakfast? Let’s find them.”
“Let’s make their lives f—ing miserable,” she said later.
One medical watchdog blasted the nurse, saying that firing her was the bare minimum.
A Border Patrol agent chatted with a protester in Minnesota on Thursday. (Brendan Gutenschwager via Storyful)
“As we’ve documented at Do No Harm, VCU has a long history of pushing extreme identity politics into medical education and clinical treatment,” Do No Harm’s Executive Director Kristina Rasmussen told Fox News Digital. “Now, they act surprised when radicalism sprouts from a ground seeded with toxic ideology.”
“When medical schools and hospitals allow radical politics to shape curriculum, they end up training harmful activists rather than skilled medical professionals,” Rasmussen said. “VCU Health firing this nurse is the bare minimum response. Unless they clean up their act, how will any patient feel safe walking through their doors?”
