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  • Dozens rally against proposed ICE facility in Hyattsville – WTOP News

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    Dozens of protesters marched down the streets of Hyattsville, Maryland, protesting a proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

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    Dozens rally against proposed ICE facility in Hyattsville

    Dozens of demonstrators marched down the streets of Hyattsville, Maryland, protesting a proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

    Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey and other Maryland elected officials sent a letter this week to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Director Todd Lyons for more information about the project.

    “When ICE agents kill people, when ICE agents terrorize people, when ICE agents separate children from parents, and they do not even identify themselves — they hide, they hide their faces — they are given the right to do anything with absolute immunity,” Charles Askins, a Hyattsville resident told WTOP. “That is the worst of the worst, not immigrants.”

    Askins was one of the many protesters who marched through Hyattsville, ending in front of the building of the proposed new office on Belcrest Road.

    In the letter to DHS officials, Ivey wrote, “Given the significant community concern surrounding ICE operations and the potential local impact of this expansion mere blocks from a church, a sensitive location and in the same building as a local Social Services Office of Family Investment, serving young children and families — we are requesting detailed information regarding this proposed facility.”

    The letter was also signed by Maryland senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks. It requests more information about the operations and size and scope of the office, and whether it will be an enforcement arm with holding cells or just an administrative office.

    “I’ve seen what those detention centers look like,” Ivey said. “They treat people terribly. They’re horrible conditions. I’ve seen animal shelters that are better than some of the detention centers they’re running. And we don’t want the roving patrols. We don’t want this to turn into Minneapolis.”

    When asked about the recent ban of 287(g) agreements signed by Gov. Wes Moore and whether President Donald Trump’s administration will continue immigration enforcement in the state, Ivey said, “Trump’s mode of operation has just been to go do what he wants to do, and he keeps doing it until people push back.”

    “That’s what we saw in Minnesota,” he continued. “They rolled in, they sent in 3,000 ICE officers. That’s five times more ICE agents than they had than police officers in the Minneapolis Police Department. The community stood up and pushed back, and they ran them out of town.”

    The congressman walked with other local leaders during their short march, including Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy and Hyattsville Mayor Robert Croslin.

    “The only thing that I can do right now is to thank you all,” Croslin said to the many marchers waving signs reading “No ICE.” “And to let you know that Hyattsville is a sanctuary city.”

    Braveboy announced that she would be signing an executive order Thursday that would further limit local law enforcement from working with ICE officers.

    Hyattsville resident Kathy Hogle said many of her neighbors are immigrants and fear immigration enforcement.

    “Probably the most important thing at this moment is that we have now hundreds of thousands of families who don’t have their breadwinners, hundreds of thousands of families that have been traumatized and that will have to live with this trauma for generations,” Hogle said.

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  • Trump’s $45 billion expansion of immigrant detention sites faces pushback from communities – WTOP News

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    A proposed ICE facility just north of Richmond, Virginia, drew hundreds of people last week to a tense public hearing of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors.

    A man takes photos of a warehouse as federal officials tour the facility to consider repurposing it as an ICE detention facility Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Belton, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)(AP/Charlie Riedel)

    With tensions high over federal immigration enforcement, some state and local officials are pushing back against attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to house thousands of detained immigrants in their communities in converted warehouses, privately run facilities and county jails.

    Federal officials have been scouting cities and counties across the U.S. for places to hold immigrants as they roll out a massive $45 billion expansion of detention facilities financed by Trump’s recent tax-cutting law.

    The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota have amplified an already intense spotlight on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing scrutiny of its plans for new detention sites.

    A proposed ICE facility just north of Richmond, Virginia, drew hundreds of people last week to a tense public hearing of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors.

    “You want what’s happening in Minnesota to go down in our own backyard? Build that detention center here, and that’s exactly what will happen,” resident Kimberly Matthews told county officials.

    As a prospective ICE detention site became public, elected officials in Kansas City, Missouri, scrambled to pass an ordinance aimed at blocking it. And mayors in Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City — after raising concerns about building permits — announced last week that property owners won’t be selling or leasing their facilities for immigration detention.

    Meanwhile, legislatures in several Democratic-led states pressed forward with bills aimed at blocking or discouraging ICE facilities. A New Mexico measure targets local government agreements to detain immigrants for ICE. A novel California proposal seeks to nudge companies running ICE facilities out of the state by imposing a 50% tax on their proceeds.

    The number of ICE detention sites has doubled

    More than 70,000 immigrants were being detained by ICE as of late December, up from 40,000 when Trump took office, according to federal data.

    In a little over a year, the number of detention facilities used by ICE nearly doubled to 212 sites spread across 47 states and territories. Most of that growth came through existing contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service or deals to use empty beds at county jails.

    Trump’s administration now is taking steps to open more large-scale facilities. In January, ICE paid $102 million for a warehouse in Washington County, Maryland, $84 million for one in Berks County, Pennsylvania, and more than $70 million for one in Surprise, Arizona. It also solicited public comment on a proposed warehouse purchase in a flood plain in Chester, New York.

    Federal immigration officials have toured large warehouses elsewhere, without releasing many details about the efforts.

    “They will be very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” ICE said in a statement, adding: “It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”

    Detention site foes face legal limitations

    State and local governments can decline to lease detention space to ICE, but they generally cannot prohibit businesses and private landowners from using their property for federal immigrant detention centers, said Danielle Jefferis, an associate law professor at the University of Nebraska who focuses on immigration and civil litigation.

    In 2023, a federal court invalidated a California law barring private immigrant detention facilities for infringing on federal powers. A federal appeals court panel cited similar grounds in July while striking down a New Jersey law that forbade agreements to operate immigrant detention facilities.

    After ICE officials recently toured a warehouse in Orlando, Florida, as a prospective site, local officials looked into ways to regulate or prevent it. But City Attorney Mayanne Downs advised them in a letter that “ICE is immune from any local regulation that interferes in any way with its federal mandate.”

    Officials in Hanover County also asked their attorney to evaluate legal options after the Department of Homeland Security sent a letter confirming its intent to purchase a private property for use as an ICE processing facility. The building sits near retail businesses, hotels, restaurants and several neighborhoods.

    Although some residents voiced concerns that an ICE facility could strain the county’s resources, there’s little the county can do to oppose it, said Board of Supervisors Chair Sean Davis.

    “The federal government is generally exempt from our zoning regulations,” Davis said.

    Kansas City tries to block new ICE detention site

    Despite court rulings elsewhere, the City Council in Kansas City voted in January to impose a five-year moratorium on non-city-run detention facilities. The vote came on the same day ICE officials toured a nearly 1-million-square-foot (92,903-square-meter) warehouse as a prospective site.

    Manny Abarca, a county lawmaker, said he initially was threatened with trespassing when he showed up but was eventually allowed inside the facility, where a deputy ICE field office director told him they were scouting for a 7,500-bed site.

    Abarca is trying to fortify Kansas City’s resistance by proposing a countywide moratorium on permits, zoning changes and development plans for detention facilities not run by the county or a city.

    “When federal power is putting communities on edge, local government has a responsibility to act where we have authority,” he said.

    Kansas City is looking to follow a similar path as Leavenworth, Kansas, which has argued that private prison firm CoreCivic must have an operating permit to reopen a shuttered prison as an ICE detention facility.

    As other ICE proposals have surfaced, officials in Social Circle, Georgia, El Paso, Texas, and Roxbury Township, New Jersey, all have raised concerns about a lack of water and sewer capacity to transform warehouses into detention sites.

    Nationally, it remains to be seen whether local governments can effectively deter ICE facilities through building permits and regulations.

    “We’re currently in a moment where it is being tested,” Jefferis said. “So there is no clear answer as to how the courts are going to come down.”

    New Mexico targets existing ICE facilities

    The Democratic-led New Mexico House on Friday passed legislation banning state and local government contracts for ICE detention facilities, sending it to the Senate. Similar bills are pending in Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

    The Otero County Processing Center, 25 miles (40 kilometers) from downtown El Paso, Texas, is one of three privately run ICE facilities that could be affected by the New Mexico legislation. The facility includes four immigration courtrooms and space for more than 1,000 detainees. The county financed its construction in 2007 with the intent to use it as a revenue source, and plans to pay off the remaining $16.5 million debt by 2028.

    Otero County Attorney Roy Nichols said the county is prepared to sue the Legislature under a state law that prevents impairment of outstanding revenue bonds.

    Republicans warned of job losses and economic fallout if the legislation forces immigrant detention centers to close.

    But Democratic state Rep. Sarah Silva, who voted for the ban, and said her constituents in a heavily Hispanic area view the ICE facility as a burden.

    “Our state can’t be complicit in the violations that ICE has been doing in places like Minneapolis,” Silva said. “To me that was beyond the tipping point.”

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  • Nine indicted in connection with attack on Alvarado ICE facility

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    The 12-count indictment includes charges of rioting and providing material support to terrorists, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

    The 12-count indictment includes charges of rioting and providing material support to terrorists, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.


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    Nine “North Texas Antifa Cell Operatives” have been indicted in connection to the July 4 attack on an immigration detention facility in Alvarado, according to a statement released Friday

    The 12-count indictment charges the defendants with offenses including rioting, providing material support to terrorists and attempted murder of officers and employees of the United States, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said.

    Cameron Arnold (aka Autumn Hill) Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna Batten, Bradford Morris (aka Meagan Morris), Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Soto, and Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada are set for arraignment on those charges Dec. 3, officials said.

    Additionally, seven other defendants were charged in the case “by information,” according to the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

    Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca Morgan, Lynette Sharp, John Thomas and Seth Sikes were charged with providing material support to terrorists, officials said.

    Guilty-plea hearings will be held for those defendants next week, according to the statement.

    Throughout the statement, government officials repeatedly referred to the defendants as members of an “Antifa cell.”

    “The defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise … that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and the system of law,” the statement reads in part.

    “Antifa,” short for anti-fascist, is a term that refers generally to far-left leaning militia groups and not to a single entity, according to the Associated Press.

    “This is the first indictment in the country against a group of violent Antifa cell members,” acting U.S. Attorney Nancy E. Larson said. “We are firm in our resolve to protect our law enforcement officers and federal facilities against organized domestic terrorist cells.”

    If convicted, each of the defendants could face anywhere from 10 years to life in federal prison, officials said.

    This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 8:05 PM.

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    Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.

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  • ICE’s arrest of father, children in Durango sparks CBI investigation, local backlash

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    Pushback and criticism against the federal government continued across Colorado this week after immigration officials arrested a father and two children in Durango, sparking local protests that were met with pepper spray, rubber bullets and physical confrontation by federal agents.

    Colorado Bureau of Investigation officials on Thursday announced the agency will investigate a federal agent throwing a protester’s phone and pushing her to the ground outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango.

    The encounter was caught on video as demonstrators gathered outside the ICE office on Monday to try to prevent a Colombian man and his two children from being separated and moved to different facilities.

    Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his 12- and 15-year-old children were arrested Monday morning while heading to school despite the family’s active asylum case, advocates with Compañeros Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center said.

    Durango Police Chief Brice Current asked the CBI to investigate in the wake of a widely circulated video which “appears to show a federal agent use force on a woman during the demonstration,” the state agency said Thursday.

    Investigators will look into whether any state criminal laws were broken during the incident and send the investigation to the 6th Judicial District; the district attorney’s office will decide whether to file charges.

    Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday said Colorado officials were not informed of the operation or given any information about whether Jaramillo Solano and his children were suspected of any crimes.

    “The federal government’s lack of transparency about its immigration actions in Durango and in the free state of Colorado remains extremely maddening,” Polis said on social media.

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  • ICE’s arrest of father, two children in Durango spark local protests

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    Two children and their father on their way to school were detained by federal immigration agents in southwestern Colorado on Monday, sparking protests from demonstrators who tried to prevent the family from being separated and moved to different facilities.

    Videos of the protest posted on social media Tuesday show law enforcement clashing with demonstrators outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango, where agents in tactical gear carried weapons capable of firing less-lethal projectiles. Video taken overnight shows one agent taking and throwing a woman’s phone and then throwing the woman to the ground. Other protesters appeared to have been hit by projectiles fired by federal officers.

    In a statement, the city of Durango said it had asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to investigate the woman who was shoved by the federal agent.

    Denver7 Investigates

    Parker 5th-grade teacher, family detained by ICE in CO | Denver7 Investigates

    Fernando Jaramillo Solano and his two children, ages 12 and 15, were detained by ICE on Monday morning while driving near their home, said Enrique Orozco-Perez, the co-executive director of the Compañeros Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center.

    The family applied for asylum after coming to Colorado from Colombia and has an active, ongoing immigration case. The children’s mother, who is the primary applicant on the asylum case, has not been detained, the group said.

    Read the full story from our partners at The Denver Post.

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  • Noem Meets With Top Oregon Lawmakers Tuesday – KXL

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    Oregon Governor Tina Kotek says she met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when she first arrived at the airport, Tuesday morning.

    “We talked about safety. We talked about safely allowing folks to peacefully protest,” Kotek said. “No one in Oregon is interested in seeing military policing on our streets, but people are protesting peacefully.”

    Kotek talked to CNN after the Secretary left … reiterating the military is not needed outside Portland’s ICE facility.

    “Local law enforcement is working very hard to keep the situation calm,” Kotek said.

    The Governor says she received no formal notice of the Secretary’s visit, only learning of the trip through what she called “unofficial channels.”

    Portland’s Police Chief Bob Day says protesters at the Southwest Portland ICE Facility have differences of opinion on how to provide security around the ICE building, but they could also find agreement.

    “We continue to be professionals and we continue to strive for a shared value of safety,” Day said.

    He says they need to find ways to keep demonstrations peaceful and non-violent.

    “This really is our time to stand together and to do that, we’re going to have to give a little bit,” Day said.

    Day says one more person was arrested outside of the building, making 38 arrests since June. Federal officers have also arrested 31 people during that same time.

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  • Trump’s National Guard deployment in Portland, Oregon halted as Chicago braces for troops

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    President Donald Trump’s crime and immigration crackdown hit a legal roadblock in Portland, Oregon, as new details emerged about the administration’s plan to send federal troops into Chicago. On Saturday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s effort to federalize 200 members of the Oregon National Guard. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut said the plan to send troops to Portland likely overstepped Trump’s authority and threatened state sovereignty. “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation,” Immergut said. The decision was celebrated by state and local leaders who brought the lawsuit, but the White House vowed to appeal. “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement — we expect to be vindicated by a higher court,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland has been at the center of recent protests. On Saturday, hundreds marched to the building, prompting federal agents to deploy tear gas, among other crowd-control munitions. At least six people were arrested. Similar demonstrations and a similar debate have been playing out in Chicago. On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said federal agents shot and injured one woman during what the agency described as a “defensive” response to an alleged vehicle-ramming attack. On Saturday, Trump authorized 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago, despite opposition from Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. The timeline of the National Guard’s arrival was not immediately clear. More from our Washington Bureau:

    President Donald Trump’s crime and immigration crackdown hit a legal roadblock in Portland, Oregon, as new details emerged about the administration’s plan to send federal troops into Chicago.

    On Saturday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s effort to federalize 200 members of the Oregon National Guard. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut said the plan to send troops to Portland likely overstepped Trump’s authority and threatened state sovereignty.

    “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation,” Immergut said.

    The decision was celebrated by state and local leaders who brought the lawsuit, but the White House vowed to appeal.

    “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement — we expect to be vindicated by a higher court,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson.

    An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland has been at the center of recent protests. On Saturday, hundreds marched to the building, prompting federal agents to deploy tear gas, among other crowd-control munitions. At least six people were arrested.

    Similar demonstrations and a similar debate have been playing out in Chicago. On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said federal agents shot and injured one woman during what the agency described as a “defensive” response to an alleged vehicle-ramming attack.

    On Saturday, Trump authorized 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago, despite opposition from Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker. The timeline of the National Guard’s arrival was not immediately clear.

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  • Trump plans to deploy National Guard in Illinois, governor says

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    The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, OregonPritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment. Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.

    The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.

    Related video above: “Full force, if necessary:” Why President Trump is sending troops to Portland, Oregon

    Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.

    “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”

    The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.

    The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.

    Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.

    “For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.

    Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.

    Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

    City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.

    Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment.

    Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.

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  • Texas Ice facility shooting: Republicans blame ‘radical left’ as Democrats focus on victims and gun control

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    A deadly shooting at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in Dallas on Wednesday morning, has predictably been met with markedly different reactions from the political right and left.

    While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed shortly after the news broke that detainees were the victims of the sniper attack on the facility and no federal agents had been injured, the president and his allies were quick to frame the shooting as an attack on Ice and place blame on the “radical left”.

    DHS previously said that two detainees were killed, but later issued a clarifying statement saying that the shooting killed only one detainee. It adds that two other detainees were shot and are in critical condition.

    Related: Texas Ice facility shooting: what we know so far about deadly attack

    Official statements have notably lacked much focus on the victims having been detainees, and at a press conference on Wednesday morning officials said the identities of the victims would not be released at this time. Meanwhile, figures on the left have centered on the victims’ families, pushed for greater gun control and urged a rejection of anti-immigrant sentiment.

    Donald Trump rushed to politicize the incident, blaming the violence squarely on “Radical Left Terrorists” and the Democratic party. “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”, he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

    JD Vance called the shooting an “obsessive attack on law enforcement” that “must stop”. The vice-president claimed it was carried out by “a violent left-wing extremist” who was “politically motivated to go after law enforcement”.

    DHS secretary Kristi Noem also said: “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.”

    The FBI has said that authorities recovered shell casings with “anti-Ice messaging” near the shooter, but officials say the investigation is ongoing and have neither confirmed the motive behind the attack, nor corroborated claims about the shooter’s ideological background.

    The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of targeted violence. The DHS has also said the shooter “fired indiscriminately” at the Ice facility, “including at a van in the sallyport where the victims were shot”. The attacker died from a self-inflicted gun wound.

    Greg Abbott, the Republican Texas governor and staunch Trump ally, went as far as branding the attack an “assassination” and said that “Texas supports Ice”. He wrote on X: “This assassination will NOT slow our arrest, detention, & deportation of illegal immigrants. We will work with ICE & the Dallas Police Dept. to get to the bottom of the assassin’s motive.”

    Texas senator Ted Cruz also invoked the recent killing of rightwing commentator Charlie Kirk as he told reporters that political violence “must stop” and rebuked politicians who have been critical of Ice. “Your political opponents are not Nazis,” he raged at Democrats, who he accused of “demonizing” Ice. “This has very real consequences,” he said. He later acknowledged that the motive of the shooter is not known for a fact after a reporter brought up reports that the victims were detainees.

    The attack comes amid fears that the Trump administration plans to mount a brutal crackdown on leftwing organizations and amid the censorship of critical or nuanced commentary in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing, targeting anyone from visa-holders in the US to late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel.

    As with Kirk’s death, Trump’s allies stand accused of using the Dallas incident to score “political points” against the left as it comes down hard against free speech that is at odds with the administration.

    Marc Veasey, a Democratic representative for Texas who represents the area where the shooting took place, told Notus that political “gamesmanship” was already spiraling out of control before anyone had real answers, and said he was “sickened” by officials’ focus on law enforcement and lack of acknowledgement that the victims were detainees.

    He added that he lacked trust in the FBI, which had become “overly political” under Trump, and said smears against Democrats were not helpful, citing that the GOP also routinely call colleagues on the left “Marxists”. “We have to start condemning this rhetoric from both sides,” Veasey said. “I was hoping that after the assassination of Charlie Kirk that we would have learned lessons and that we realize that this is not about gamesmanship. This is not about one-upsmanship … This is about public safety.”

    Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who now leads gun violence prevention group, said her heart broke for the victims’ families and urged leaders to take action against the “gun crime crisis” gripping the country.

    Representative Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, wrote on X: “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.”

    Fellow Pennsylvania representative Malcolm Kenyatta said: “Kristi Noem couldn’t get to Twitter fast enough to use the Dallas ICE shooting for political points. But local news now says it was detainees who were shot – not ICE agents.”

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