On Wednesday, as Breitbart News is reporting, a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Dallas, Texas, leaving one migrant detainee dead and two others in critical condition.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel has since revealed that at least one of the shell casings from the gunman’s bullets was scrawled with anti-ICE messaging, indicating a left-wing ideological motive for the attack.
For months, in the lead-up to the attack on the Dallas ICE facility, Democrats continuously made statements demonizing ICE agents to the point that the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons, had publicly asked them to halt such rhetoric for fear of a targeted attack like Wednesday’s.
Below are eight separate occasions when Democrats went after ICE agents for enforcing federal immigration law:
Gavin Newsom Claims ICE Agents Will Help Suppress Voter Turnout
Last month, during a podcast episode with tech journalist Kara Swisher, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) made the unprecedented claim that ICE agents may be used by President Donald Trump in next year’s midterm elections to help suppress voter turnout.
“[Trump’s] already sending out masked people to intimidate folks. When we launched our campaign, did it down in Little Tokyo in LA — do you think ICE is not going to show up around voting and polling booths to chill participation? And you know that — the National Guard — you know that,” Newsom said.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom Suggests ICE Agents are Hunting Illegal Aliens
In June, following ICE raids on California farms illegally employing migrant children and illegal aliens, “First Partner” of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Gavin Newsom’s wife, suggested in a video posted to her Instagram that agents were hunting illegal aliens like animals.
“We are a country of immigrants; that is just a fact. It is who we are. And yet here we are, watching families be targeted, watched, hunted, farmworkers being chased across fields, these are some of the hardest working people on Earth, and they literally feed the nation,” Siebel Newsom said.
Jasmine Crockett: ICE Agents are Acting Like ‘Slave Patrols’
Last week, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) made the inflammatory suggestion that ICE agents are akin to “slave patrols” during an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi.
“But what [ICE is] doing right now, it almost feels like, you know, I’ve seen the memes about the purge and all these things, but as somebody who understands history, when I see ICE, I see slave patrols,” Crockett said. “Now, I never lived through the slave patrol period. But if you know the history of policing in this country, then you understand that they were born out of slave patrols.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Compares ICE Agents to Neo-Nazis
In June, Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Michelle Wu (D) compared ICE agents, enforcing federal law in the sanctuary city, to a neo-Nazi organization called NSC-131.
“I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks,” Wu said. “NSC-131 routinely wears masks.”
Tim Walz Declares ICE Agents are Trump’s ‘Modern Gestapo’
In May of this year, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) told college graduates at the University of Minnesota Law School that ICE agents are acting as Nazi Germany’s secret police force.
“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons,” Walz said. “No chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
Rep. John Larson Calls on ‘Americans to Rise Up’ Against ‘Gestapo’ ICE
Last month, Rep. John Larson (D-CT) spoke before anti-ICE protesters and suggested that Americans must “rise up” against agents, calling them “Gestapo.”
“This is a time for good trouble. This is a time for Americans to rise up,” Larson said.
“This is not Germany. That’s the SS and the Gestapo,” Larson said. “This is the United States of America. Unmask yourselves.”
Hakeem Jeffries Threatens to Unmask ICE Agents
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) went on a tirade against ICE agents in June, declaring that he would help unmask agents who cover their faces to avoid being targeted and jeopardizing their undercover work.
“This is America. This is not the Soviet Union. We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s,” Jeffries said. “And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Calls ICE Agents Trump’s ‘Secret Police’
In another instance, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D) called ICE agents Trump’s “secret police,” comparing the agency to Nazi Germany’s murderous SS officers.
“People are terrified for their lives and for their neighbors, folks getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks, who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained,” Wu said.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
