Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Wednesday’s shooting that targeted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, Texas, is a “wake-up call” on anti-ICE rhetoric.
“For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed,” she posted on X hours after the incident.
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The Department of Homeland Security says the now-identified gunman shot three detainees, two of whom were killed, from a rooftop near the ICE field office in Dallas. The third victim is in critical condition. The shooter, identified as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Jahn had anti-ICE messages engraved on the bullet casings he used in the shooting, according to officials.
“What I can also share with you is that early evidence that we’ve seen from rounds that were found near the suspected shooter indicate messages that are anti-ICE in nature,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joseph Rothrock said during a press conference Wednesday morning. “I can confirm at this time that the FBI is investigating this incident as an act of targeted violence.”
Noem blamed the shooting on left-wing rhetoric.
“These horrendous killings must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences,” she said. “Comparing ICE Day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, we just want to go home to our families at night.”
“The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop,” the cabinet official added. “We are praying for the victims and their families.”
ICE has faced pushback from Democrats for carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda and allowing its officers to wear masks to prevent doxing.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) recently moved to ban the agency’s mask-wearing policy via state legislation. In response, DHS said ICE wouldn’t comply with the state law.
ROUNDS FOUND NEAR DALLAS ICE SHOOTING SUSPECT HAD ‘ANTI-ICE’ MESSAGING, FBI SAYS
This wasn’t the first attack against the ICE facility. Just last month, a man arrived at the facility claiming he had a bomb in his backpack. No bomb was detonated. The suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Bratton Dean Wilkinson, was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats.
Wednesday’s shooting in Dallas is the latest act of political violence following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk at a Utah university.