A shooting took place at an ICE field office in Dallas, during which one detainee was killed and two others were injured. The suspected gunman, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, carried out the attack before taking his own life at the scene.
While it was ultimately detained individuals who were hurt and killed in the brutal attack, rather than ICE agents, Jahn left behind distinctly negative messages about the agency, making it clear that law enforcement was his intended target. Bullet casings found at the scene had been etched with the message ‘ANTI-ICE.’
In a plea to the American people following the attack, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted, "Democrats must stop demonizing the heroic men and women of ICE who are just doing their jobs to keep Americans safe." Secretary of State Kristi Noem reports that there has been a 1,000% increase in assaults against ICE agents.
This is just the most recent in a trend of anti-law enforcement behavior within the United States. Donald Trump deployed his National Guard to Los Angeles just months ago to assist ICE during a contentious period of raids in the city. Residents were threatening and harassing both ICE and LAPD, as well as defacing buildings and setting things on fire indiscriminately.
The rhetoric of the left has become untenable, and public officials, as well as media personalities, must revisit how they speak about both controversial political ideas and their opponents. After years of repeatedly insisting that conservatives and Trump supporters are literally Nazis, such an outpouring of violence remains sad but veers towards predictable.
Starting with the assassination attempt on President Trump last summer and continuing through the murder of Charlie Kirk and the ongoing violence against ICE, mentally ill individuals are beginning to take seriously that the right may symbolize a literal fascist regime. The week before the attempt on Trump’s life, President Biden himself said on a donor’s conference call, “It’s time to put… [him] in a bullseye.” It was rumored that White House staffers, including Presidential aides, openly referred to their opponent as “Hitler Pig,” and the Biden/Harris social media team regularly painted him as a Nazi.
Regarding ICE, high-profile liberals have made similarly dangerous comments. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington has referred to deportation arrests as “kidnappings,” and former Vice-Presidential candidate Tim Walz called ICE agents “a modern-day Gestapo,” referencing Adolf Hitler’s brutal police regime. In response to the shooting in Dallas, the White House put out a statement calling for an end to such violent language regarding ICE and providing lengthy examples of elected officials making inappropriate comments. The introduction read in part, “The carnage in Dallas, Texas … lays bare the deadly consequences of Democrats’ unhinged crusade against our border enforcement. Democrats have spent years vilifying ICE as 'fascist,” “the Gestapo,” and “slave patrols,” inciting… a wave of Radical Left terror. Their words aren’t just reckless- they’re a battle cry for violence.”
Did Democratic rhetoric contribute to the attack on the ICE facility? What can be done to calm the dialogue surrounding illegal immigration?
Hilary Gunn is a Connecticut native with a degree in Criminal Justice from the George Washington University. She works for a nonprofit and has previously collaborated with the CT GOP as an activist, political campaign manager and field director, and social media organizer. She is currently serving in her fourth term of municipal office and has previously acted as a delegate on the Republican Town Committee.