‘We will never surrender’: Texas leaders condemn deadly Dallas ICE shooting
Elected officials offered prayers and said they were monitoring developments Wednesday after a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas.
The shooting left one detainee dead and two critically injured, police said. The gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on X.
On Wednesday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X that the shooting would not “slow our arrest, detention, & deportation of illegal immigrants.”
In a statement later in the day, Abbott said he has been in touch with federal officials and has assured them that Texas will provide any resources needed to help investigate. He joined other Republican lawmakers in citing an “onslaught of violent and subversive rhetoric from the Left” as he condemned the shooting.
“We are a nation defined by our value for peaceful discourse, and our respect for law and order,” Abbott said. “In other parts of the world, political violence grips countries after every change in leadership, strangling their nation, and putting lives at risk every day. America cannot and will not become a country prone to such violence. The ongoing onslaught of violent and subversive rhetoric from the Left threatens to degrade the most prized and basic values our nation was founded upon and must be denounced at every turn.”
Vice President JD Vance, Sen. John Cornyn and Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare condemned the shooting.
“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop. I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families,” Vance said in a post on X.
Cornyn called the shooting “horrific.”
“While law enforcement investigates, I am keeping everyone impacted in my prayers,” Cornyn said in an X post. “My staff have been in touch with federal & local officials in Dallas, and we will make sure all resources are brought to bear in the investigation. Thank you to all first responders who rushed to the scene.”
O’Hare said on X: “It shouldn’t be unexpected with the violent political rhetoric we see from so-called leaders and the constant bashing of law enforcement. This must stop. Praying for the victims and their families.”
Though no motive has been confirmed, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security said “we know that our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them. It must stop.” Both O’Hare’s and Vance’s posts were in response to her tweet.
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, a Democrat from Fort Worth, criticized Abbott’s response to the shooting on X.
“This is absolutely sickening!” he said. “Two people have been killed and you are still focused on border theater! This is unreal..what a failure in leadership!”
Veasey’s North Texas district, which spans parts of Dallas and Tarrant counties, includes the area the ICE facility at 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway. The congressman said his office is monitoring the situation.
“My office is aware of the developing situation and will continue to monitor the situation,” Veasey said on X. “We are keeping the victims in prayer and will update the North Texas community as we get news on their conditions and learn more about the suspect.”
“Today’s shooting at the Dallas ICE facility is a senseless act of violence which has no place in our community,” U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, a Willow Park Republican, said on X. “My prayers are with the victims, their families, and the brave officers responding to this tragedy.”
The shooter was found dead on the roof of an immigration attorney’s office near the ICE facility, WFAA reports. His name hasn’t been released. FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said bullet casings near the shooter were “anti-ICE in nature.”
FBI Director Kash Patel on X shared a photo of an unspent shell casing engraved with “ANTI-ICE.” An initial review of the evidence “shows an ideological motive behind this attack,” he said, referencing the photo.
As details emerged about the shooting, government officials condemned anti-ICE rhetoric and political violence.
“These horrendous killings must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences,” Noem said on X. ”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.”
U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, an Irving Republican, responded to the engraved shell in a post on X, saying it appears to be “yet another deadly act of violence against ICE and law enforcement who are just doing their jobs to enforce the law and protect our communities.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pointed to an “epidemic of Leftist political violence” in a post on X.
“The attack on ICE in Dallas is yet another despicable assault on law and order,” Paxton said. “The epidemic of Leftist political violence must end. Democrats have fostered an environment of evil, emboldening radicals to kill, steal, and destroy. But we will never surrender.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said “this needs to stop” in an interview shared by CSPAN.
“Violence is wrong,” Cruz said. “Politically motivated violence is wrong.”
He called on politicians to stop using rhetoric “demonizing” ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and called for prayers for those shot or injured and their families.
“If we want to have a debate about immigration policy, we can do so in the halls of Congress, without demonizing each other and especially without demonizing the men and women who every day put on a badge and go risk their lives to keep us safe,” Cruz said.
Armin Mizani, Keller Mayor and Republican candidate for the Texas House, urged more North Texas cities to opt into the ICE partnership. The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement to perform legal status checks on people checked into the Keller city jail.
Keller became the largest city in Texas to join the program on Aug. 5, though Mizani said legal status checks were already common practice in Keller.
“Texans have a fundamental right to know that individuals who are in this country unlawfully and pose a danger to our communities will not be released back into our neighborhoods,” Mizani said in a statement.
He said ICE agents are under siege, pointing to Noem’s August statement on X that assaults against the officers have increased by 1,000%.
“ICE operations are under constant threat of violence, and it’s our duty to stand behind these men and women,” Mizani said. “We must protect ICE, their mission, and the individuals in federal custody from violence.”
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said she is “Ideeply concerned about the heightened violence and rhetoric we are seeing against our nation’s institutions, our law enforcement agencies, and our elected officials.”
The horrific attack this morning at a Dallas ICE facility was a targeted act of violence and hate,” Parker said. “May we mourn for families that are left broken, remember the risk our first responders take every day, and more than ever, hold dear to what unites us. While we wait for the details of an ongoing investigation, we stand ready to support our partners in Dallas.”
State Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Eluess Democrat, said on X: “Terribly sad to start the day with news of more targeted violence - this time close to home in Dallas. While the details are still developing, I hope you’ll join me in taking a moment to pray for the victims and an end to senseless violence.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 10:19 AM.
