Federal authorities say that a shooting on Wednesday morning at an ICE immigration detention facility was a “targeted act of violence” and “an attack” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Department of Homeland Security said that a gunman fired at the ICE building “indiscriminately” and at a “van in the sallyport where the victims” were struck. One detainee was killed and two others were injured. One of the hospitalized individuals was a Mexican national, according to Mexico’s Foreign Ministry. Authorities say the suspect died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”.
The DHS reduced the death toll in an updated statement on Wednesday night. Earlier, the agency said two detainees had died in the shooting.
The agency released a pair of images showing a bullet hole in an exterior window of the Dallas facility and another in an internal display case that houses the American flag. The DHS described the shooting as “an attack on ICE law enforcement”.
Speaking during a press conference with politicians and officials, Joe Rothrock, special agent in charge of the FBI in Dallas, said that “initial evidence” suggests the suspected gunman was “anti-ICE in nature,” due to writings found on bullet casings near the shooter.
On X, FBI Director Kash Patel posted a photo of five unfired bullet casings, one engraved with the words “ANTI ICE”. Patel’s post said: “These despicable, politically motivated attacks on law enforcement are not isolated. We are just a few miles from Prarieland, Texas, where just two months ago an individual ambushed a separate ICE facility, targeting its officers”.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the attack would not change the state’s aggressive crackdown on immigration. “We will not let this cowardly attack deter our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration law, and ensure law and order,” Abbott said in a statement.
Rothrock said no law enforcement personnel were injured during the attack. During the press conference, officials provided few details about the circumstances of the shooting. In an earlier statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: “ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them. This must stop”.
Mayra, a Nicaraguan migrant who has lived in the U.S. for four years, was inside the ICE facility on Wednesday for her immigration check-in. She asked NPR not to use her last name because of her immigration status.
Around 6:20 a.m. local time, she said: “I started hearing gunshots and got really scared because my daughter was waiting for me outside”.
Mayra says she heard about 20 shots and that, at times, she could feel the bullets hitting the building. She said law enforcement inside were running and calling for help.
Her daughter, Denises Robleto, said she had to take cover outside. She thought of her mother. “I feel unsafe because we are all immigrants and, although I have legal status and have lived in Dallas, Texas, for 16 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Robleto said in Spanish.
Both women left Nicaragua because of violence in their country, they told reporters. “I feel like there’s danger everywhere, there’s no safety,” said Mayra, the mother. Her appointment was rescheduled for Thursday.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson asked people to be patient as the investigation continues. “Let’s stay calm and let our law enforcement partners, our police department, do their job,” he said. “This is an active investigation. There are still many unanswered questions”.
Several officials, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, said that “politically motivated violence” needs to stop. “Your opponents are not Nazis,” Cruz said. “Divisive rhetoric has real consequences”.
Fonte: npr.org por Russell Lewis, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán