Copyright inquisitr
President Donald Trump blamed the deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas on the “radical left,” then hinted his supporters might answer in kind. Sitting beside Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House, he called the right “a lot tougher than the left” and said the violence could “go back on them.” What he did not do was mention the detainees who were killed and wounded. During a detainee transfer near the agency’s Dallas field office, a gunman opened fire. Two died, while others were critically injured, and the shooter died by suicide. Police and federal agents locked down nearby blocks, waved drivers away, and moved bystanders behind cover while they swept rooftops and parking decks. As word spread, the conversation shifted from the crime scene to the blame game. Trump’s argument was straightforward: attacks on ICE have consequences, and this is what happens when politicians and activists paint agents as villains. His critics, including a few voices on the right who preferred a calmer tone, said the country needed a message that cooled things off. Investigators started pulling camera footage, tracing the weapon, reading the suspect’s digital footprint, and building a timeline minute by minute. Early indicators pointed to a lone attacker. That did not slow the rumor mill, but it did help officials tighten the focus to evidence instead of guesswork. DHS ordered extra patrols at ICE sites across the country. What made Trump’s remarks stand out (watch it here) was the way they skipped over the people who were actually killed by the gunman. Families of detainees were calling lawyers and hotlines, trying to figure out who was safe. Officers who ran toward the gunfire would be back at the same building the next morning, now with more checkpoints. Those are the folks who usually get a first sentence, even a single line of sympathy. Instead, the headline became a warning about payback. There is a larger conversation here, and it is not new. Politicians in both parties swear the other side’s words are dangerous. Researchers who study political violence tend to give the same advice, watch the temperature in the room. When leaders speak in absolutes, when they lean into us versus them, unstable actors can decide they are hearing a green light, even if no one meant to give one. Public sentiment toward ICE is mixed and sharply partisan right now. An Economist/YouGov survey in June found 45% of Americans view ICE favorably and 43% unfavorably, essentially even, while a Quinnipiac poll the same month showed voters disapproving of the agency’s job performance 56% to 39%. Among partisans, the gap is wider. Pew reports 72% of Republicans have a favorable view of ICE, compared with just 13% of Democrats, making ICE one of the most polarizing federal agencies. A June Pew survey found a majority disapprove of stepped-up workplace raids, and Gallup in July noted rising positivity toward immigration overall, even as immigration remains a national concern. It should be noted that Trump said he didn’t want any violence to happen, but his words, some might say, inflamed the situation.
