Leading Dem Senator Defends Anti-ICE Rhetoric Amid Violence Against Agents

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is downplaying the growing wave of anti-ICE violence, insisting Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that criticism of federal immigration enforcement does not amount to incitement — even as attacks on agents and facilities escalate nationwide.

His comments came in the immediate aftermath of a deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas. Authorities said 29-year-old Joshua Jahn opened fire with a rifle, killing one detainee, critically wounding two others, and then turning the weapon on himself. Investigators later uncovered chilling handwritten notes where Jahn described his intent to terrorize federal officers: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think, ‘is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?’”

Despite this, Murphy argued that blasting ICE operations does not encourage violence. “No, criticizing the way that ICE is rounding up people in this country in a deeply inhumane and immoral way is not an incitement to violence,” Murphy claimed. “That’s not how our system works.” He added that only explicit calls for violence cross the legal line.

But conservatives are pointing to Murphy’s own record of inflammatory rhetoric. Just a day before the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk earlier this month, Murphy told a rally crowd: “We’re in a war right now to save this country. And so you have to be willing to do whatever is necessary in order to save the country.” Critics say framing politics in wartime terms feeds the very radicalism that has already led to bloodshed.

Meanwhile, anti-ICE protests continue to turn confrontational. On Friday, demonstrators in Chicago blocked a federal vehicle outside an ICE facility in Broadview, striking the SUV and shouting threats. According to video from The Blaze and reporting by The Post Millennial, protesters chanted “arrest ICE” and “shoot ICE” before police dispersed the crowd with pepper balls and tear gas. Several arrests followed.

Federal officials warn that such rhetoric, combined with disruptive street-level activism, is creating fertile ground for unstable individuals to escalate from protest to outright terror. A former DHS official told Fox News: “When you have elected officials talking about war, and protesters in the streets chanting about violence, it doesn’t take much for someone unstable to connect those dots.”

With attacks on ICE and Border Patrol agents climbing since President Donald J. Trump’s administration stepped up enforcement earlier this year, the stakes of downplaying violent rhetoric are becoming harder to ignore.