Trump administration officials and Republicans are pointing the finger at Democrats as having incited violence against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel.
The latest in a string of physical attacks against federal immigration officers this year occurred on Wednesday at an ICE field office in Dallas, where a gunman whose rounds espoused an “anti-ICE” sentiment opened fire and killed one detainee while critically wounding two others.
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The attack came two weeks after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a university in Utah.
Republicans are now seeking to draw a direct correlation between the threats and claims that Democratic politicians and far-left leaders have made against ICE and the increase in political violence.
Vice President JD Vance spoke about the incident in Concord, North Carolina, and said evidence not yet made public confirmed that the shooter was “politically motivated to go after people who are enforcing our border.”
“Here’s what happens when Democrats like Gavin Newsom say that these people are part of an authoritarian government, when the left-wing media lies about what they’re doing, when they lie about who they are arresting, when they lie about the actual job of law enforcement — what they are doing is encouraging crazy people to go and commit violence,” Vance added. “You don’t have to agree with Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but if your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell.”
.@VP SLAMS Democrats for their constant demonization of ICE agents: In Dallas, Texas, an ICE facility was opened fire upon by a violent left-wing extremist… We know this person was politically motivated.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 24, 2025
"It is time to STOP the rhetorical assault on law enforcement." pic.twitter.com/KLAnRSB8UU
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees ICE, blamed the attack on “hatred” for ICE preached by politicians in the Democratic Party.
“For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed,” Noem said in a statement. “This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences. Comparing ICE day in and day out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also blamed Democrats’ “demonizing the heroic men and women of ICE who are just doing their jobs to keep Americans safe.”
Democrats must stop demonizing the heroic men and women of ICE who are just doing their jobs to keep Americans safe. pic.twitter.com/GsqWiXvnRu
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 24, 2025
The National Republican Congressional Committee said the violence seen on Wednesday was “the direct result of Democrats’ long pattern of dangerous anti-ICE rhetoric, consistently putting criminal illegal immigrants first and demonizing law enforcement.”
Attacks against ICE
Last month, the same ICE field office received a bomb threat from a man identified as Bratton Dean Wilkinson. Wilkinson allegedly showed up at the entrance to the building and claimed to have a bomb in his backpack, prompting the facility to go on lockdown as the SWAT team responded.
A dozen individuals who showed up in tactical gear carrying weapons at ICE’s detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, in early July have been charged with attempting to ambush the building and shooting a local police officer.
On July 4, rioters assaulted federal agents at an ICE facility in Portland and targeted them with an “incendiary device.”
Back in May, a city council member in Worcester, Massachusetts, helped to incite a mob into attacking ICE officers and local police as they attempted to make an arrest. A Massachusetts police union called on Etel Haxhiaj to face federal charges for organizing the violence.
Violent rhetoric from Democrats
Many incidents of sitting Democratic members of Congress comparing ICE to Nazis and the Gestapo have been made on social media and in public settings since the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown commenced in January.
Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) shared an ICE officer’s personal information with protesters. Officers cover their faces and names for personal safety, given the doxing and stalking incidents they have seen from those who oppose the agency’s work.
Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. LaMonica McIver (R-NJ), attempted to break past the fence into an ICE facility in New Jersey earlier this spring. McIver was arrested on charges of assaulting a federal officer while attempting to enter. McIver was indicted on federal charges in June and faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said ICE was comparable to “some 1800s bank robber or some KGB officer in Russia.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman, said in July that the Trump administration’s refusal to facilitate the visitations was a “threat to our democracy.”
Over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed five bills into law meant to curtail ICE from carrying out as many arrests throughout the state on the basis that Trump’s immigration raids were “lawless.”
Other laws included policies barring ICE from accessing schools and hospitals without a judicial warrant and requiring schools, colleges, and universities to alert parents when ICE is on campus.
One such law, SB 627, made it illegal for local police and sheriff’s department employees, federal police, and state police from states other than California to wear face masks while working. California state police were exempt from the face mask ban.
Democratic leadership calls shooting ‘horrifying’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has previously threatened to unmask ICE agents, even comparing their operations to “the Soviet Union.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Jeffries joined House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-TX) to issue a statement that called the Dallas shooting “horrifying” and went on to thank police who responded.
“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,” the three House Democrats said in a joint statement, before blaming Trump for the violence. “The political and ideologically-motivated violence in America has reached a breaking point this year. We need leaders who bring the country together in moments of crisis – and that is what is required right now.”
ROUNDS FOUND NEAR DALLAS SHOOTING SUSPECT HAD ‘ANTI-ICE’ MESSAGE: FBI
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin also followed suit and thanked police “who ran toward danger” before adding that the violence was not one-sided.
“It will take all of us — not just one side of the aisle or the other — to quell this epidemic of violence, which has no place in our democracy,” Martin said in a statement. “Democrats remain committed to resolving differences through debate and elections, not with weapons. We also remain committed to enacting commonsense solutions to curb gun violence all across our country.”