US Rep. Veasey: Abbott's ICE shooting comments 'absolutely sickening'

Eleanor Dearman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Sep 24, 2025

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U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey said Texas’ governor was “focused on border theater” following a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas. The ICE facility at 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway is in Veasey’s congressional district, which includes parts of Tarrant and Dallas counties. Early in the day, Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat said on X that his office was monitoring the situation and “keeping the victims in prayer.”

As details about the shooting were unfolding, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas “fully supports ICE” and that this “assassination will NOT slow our arrest, detention, & deportation of illegal immigrants” in a post on social media.

“We will work with ICE & the Dallas Police Dept. to get to the bottom of the assassin’s motive,” Abbott said on X. “We will offer ICE additional support to assist their operations.”

The remark received pushback from Veasey, who shared the post, responding: “This is absolutely sickening! Two people have been killed and you are still focused on border theater! This is unreal..what a failure in leadership!”

Since the Wednesday morning exchange, more details have come out about the shooting. According to officials, one detainee was killed and two were injured, though at points throughout the day officials said two people were killed, not including the gunman.

In a statement, ICE officials said that around 6:30 a.m. the sniper started “firing indiscriminately” at the building, including a van transporting the victims. Law enforcement officers were not injured in the shooting.

The shooter, identified as a 29-year-old Joshua Jahn from Fairview in Colin County, also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said at least one bullet casing found near the shooter’s body had a message on it that was “anti-ICE in nature.” FBI Director Kash Patel said an unspent casing was engraved with the phrase “ANTI ICE,” in a post on X.

“While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack,” Patel said.

Abbot issued a written statement early Wednesday afternoon, where — after offering prayers to victims and others affected by the “brutal and inexcusable act of violence” and promising state resources for the investigation — Abbott again promised to continue border security efforts.

“We will not let this cowardly attack impede our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration law, and ensure law and order,” Abbott said. “The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard will continue our work with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to arrest, detain, and deport any individuals in this country illegally — without interruption.”

He cited an “ongoing onslaught of violent and subversive rhetoric from the Left” as he addressed the Wednesday 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. I urge all Americans to unite and stand for the common values that make us the greatest nation in the history of the world.”

Veasey had this to say in a Wednesday afternoon statement: “My heart breaks for the families for who lost loved ones, and I am praying for the individual still fighting for their life in critical condition. Their pain is unimaginable, and I will do everything in my power to ensure they receive justice and support. We do not yet know every fact or the shooter’s motivation, but we do know this: innocent lives were stolen in a place that should have been safe. No one— whether in detention, in uniform, or simply present— should ever have to face the terror of senseless gun violence.

“What’s equally disturbing is that Governor Abbott and leaders from the Trump administration are already exploiting this tragedy to stoke fear, division, and anger. That is shameful. In this moment of grief, what our community needs are leaders who will bring people together, not tear us further apart.

“As we mourn, we must also lower the temperature of our politics. Stoking the flame of fear and anger only make tragedies like this more likely. Now is the time to meet this moment with unity, compassion, and steady leadership.”