CONCORD, NC — After a shooting at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that killed two detainees, Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on California Governor Gavin Newsom, blaming him for making the political climate violent against police. Joshua Jahn, the gunman, died from a gunshot wound he gave himself. The bullets that were left at the scene had the words “ANTI-ICE” written on them.
Vance remarked during an event in North Carolina, “It’s time to stop the verbal attacks on law enforcement.” He said that Newsom and other Democrats were “encouraging crazy people to go and commit violence” by calling the Trump administration and its immigration agents a “authoritarian government.”
“You don’t have to agree with my immigration policies or Donald Trump’s immigration policies, but if your political speech encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell and you have no place in the political conversation of the United States of America,” Vance said.
Newsom’s Words and Actions
Vance’s comments were a direct response to Newsom’s recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where the governor blasted how the Trump administration enforced immigration laws. Newsom said that federal officials “pulled out guns and handcuffed” a disabled teen and that “masked men jumped out of unmarked cars.” He ended by saying that these measures were “authoritarian” and a danger to democracy.
Newsom quickly replied to Vance’s comments on X (previously Twitter). “Thanks, JD, but no thanks.” Newsom wrote, “I won’t be going ‘straight to hell’ today.” “Even though I feel like I’m already there when I watch you speak.”
The conversation shows how deeply divided the two sides are politically over immigration and law enforcement. Officials confirmed that no police officers were harmed in the Dallas shooting, but Vance and other Republicans have used the event to attack the language of their political opponents. Some Democratic lawmakers, on the other hand, are worried that Vance and Trump are using the tragedy to go forward in politics before all the facts are in.