A Virginia healthcare worker has drawn intense criticism and legal scrutiny after posting videos that appear to encourage people to inject US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with ‘succinylcholine’ and engage in other harmful acts, according to media reports.
The videos, shared widely on social media, allegedly show a woman identified only as Melinda, advocating for a range of extreme sabotage tactics targeted at ICE personnel.
Among her purported suggestions were that people, particularly women, obtain syringes filled with saline “or succinylcholine” to inject agents, as well as spray “poison ivy water” on them and even drug their drinks after going on dates.
“I thought of something good…sabotage tactic or at least scare tactic,” she says in one clip shared online.
The posts also urged people to make life “miserable” for ICE staff by hiding dead fish in rooms and engaging in other disruptive behaviour.
What is succinylcholine?
The case has drawn widespread condemnation because succinylcholine is a potent medical drug, not something safe or appropriate for use outside clinical settings. It is a short‑acting depolarising neuromuscular blocker approved for use by trained clinicians to facilitate procedures such as endotracheal intubation and to relax muscles during surgery, according to MedicineNet.
Succinylcholine quickly paralyzes muscles by blocking nerve signals, usually within a minute and for a few minutes. It does not affect awareness or pain, so in medical settings it is always used with anesthesia, MedicineNet reported.
Because it can cause profound paralysis of breathing muscles, cardiac arrhythmias, and other serious reactions, especially if given outside a monitored hospital setting, succinylcholine use is tightly controlled and should only be administered by trained clinicians.
The idea of using it as a “deterrent” against individuals is both medically dangerous and illegal.
Why is there so much backlash against ICE?
In Minnesota, widespread anger and protests have erupted following multiple fatal shootings and aggressive immigration enforcement actions by ICE and other federal agents in the Twin Cities area.
The situation has intensified after at least two deaths, including that of 37‑year‑old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, during enforcement actions that local officials and community members said were unnecessary and excessive, with some video footage contradicting initial federal accounts of the incidents.