Politicians and commentators rushed to assign a motive in a Wednesday morning shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas, inflaming debates about whether left-wing or right-wing ideology is more to blame for political violence.
One person was killed and two others were in critical condition after a lone gunman, who died from a self-inflicted gunshot, opened fire on the facility.
The gunman was later identified by authorities as Joshua Jahn, 29, of Collin County, Texas. No ICE agents were killed or wounded in the attack, officials said, but one detainee was killed and two others were hurt. The detainee killed was reportedly a citizen of Mexico.
Earlier in the day, with scant details known about the shooting, figures in both parties quickly stepped in to comment, underscoring deep political tensions that have only been exacerbated by the assassination earlier this month of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a college campus in Utah.
“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,” Vice President Vance posted on the social platform X soon after news of the shooting broke. “I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families.”
Democrats tore into Vance, suggesting he was misrepresenting the dynamics at play for the sake of boosting arguments favorable to his political aims.
“Leave it to this administration to use a shooting against immigrant detainees to score political points and further provoke violence. We have to get guns off our streets and reject xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment that makes all of us less safe,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) posted in response.
“The Vice President is not a reliable source of information. This is now the fifth or sixth time he’s posted a political take contradicted by facts from his own law enforcement agencies,” Jon Favreau, host of “Pod Save America” and a speechwriter under former President Obama, posted on social media.
FBI officials, however, said rounds of ammunition that were found near the suspected shooter had “ANTI-ICE” written on them — with FBI Director Kash Patel posting a photo on social media of the unspent shell casings with the message.
A defiant Vance clapped back at Favreau: “The gunman had anti-ICE messaging carved on the bullets he used. What, precisely, did I get wrong, dipshit?”
Later, officials in a Wednesday morning press conference initially declined to confirm that those who had been injured or killed were detainees in ICE custody, leading to more criticism from Favreau.
“So now the FBI offers no acknowledgement that detainees were killed and only mentions anti-ICE messaging. Maybe just provide all the facts, even the ones that don’t fit your political narrative?” he posted.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later confirmed fatalities, first saying two detainees had been killed before issuing a subsequent statement that said one had been killed and two others were in critical condition. It said the shooter “fired indiscriminately at the ICE building” and at a van in a sally port where victims were shot.
“This is an attack on ICE law enforcement,” the DHS statement said.
Wednesday’s shooting is not the first attack on an ICE facility this year. In July, a group of around a dozen people were charged with mounting a coordinated attack on another Texas detention center that left a local law enforcement officer shot.
Top Democratic leaders stressed their condemnations of political violence while also recognizing the anti-migrant sentiment that has emerged amid President Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“No one in America should be violently targeted, including our men and women in law enforcement who protect and serve our neighborhoods, and the immigrants who are too often the victims of dehumanizing rhetoric,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (Calif.) said in a joint statement.
An epidemic of political violence has hit both parties over the last few years, episodes that include the near assassination of President Trump last summer, the killing of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband over the summer, and a brutal home invasion attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
President Trump and Republicans have turned their focus on combating the “radical left” in the wake of Kirk’s assassination and what they argue is largely left-wing ideology fueling the attacks.
Suggestions range from yanking away the tax-free status of progressive foundations who make grants to liberal causes to designating antifa as a terrorist organization, as Trump did in an executive order last week.
Democrats have repeatedly pointed out that members of their party have been killed and assaulted. The Department of Justice previously had a study posted on its website that showed far-right extremists were responsible for the bulk of ideologically motivated deaths — but it quietly removed the study after Kirk’s assassination.
After Wednesday’s attack, the divides over assessing blame seemed as wide as ever.
“This violence is the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to ‘Nazis.’ The continuing violence from Radical Left Terrorists, in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, must be stopped,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday in response to the ICE facility shooting.
In an exclusive interview with NewsNation, a sister outlet of The Hill, Vance said it was up to Democrats to tone down the violence.
“I think in particular, my Democratic colleagues need to ask some very hard questions about why it is that folks from their side of the political aisle seem to be engaged in these politically motivated attacks,” Vance said. “But I think it’s important for them to look in the mirror and say, ‘Wait a minute. Can we look in the mirror? Can we actually take some steps to police some of the violent rhetoric on our own side?’”
Vance at a speech in Charlotte, N.C., singled out California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) — who days ago signed legislation prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks during raids in the state, saying it was pushing back at “authoritarian tendencies and actions of this administration.”
That rhetoric, Vance argued, encourages violence, saying those who use that rhetoric can “go straight to hell.”
Newsom responded on X: “No thanks, JD. I will not be going ‘straight to hell’ today. Though when I watch you speak I certainly feel like I’m already there.”
