Vance blames Dems for crime as ICE shooting rattles Trump campaign message

At a campaign-style event in Concord, North Carolina, Vice President JD Vance leaned into familiar GOP attacks on Democrats as “soft on crime,” pointing to the killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail and the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. Framed by armored vehicles and local police, Vance sought to project toughness — but his message was overshadowed by breaking news of a deadly shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, where one detainee was killed and two critically injured.

The ICE shooting, quickly politicized by Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel as an act of left-wing extremism, underscored how the administration is using violence to amplify its hardline immigration agenda. Vance cast Democrats as enablers of “violent radicals” and suggested local officials were failing to keep communities safe, though he stopped short of threatening federal intervention in Charlotte as the White House has in other cities. He also repeated baseless claims that Kirk’s killing was orchestrated by a far-left network.

North Carolina’s upcoming Senate race loomed over the event, with Trump and Vance pinning blame for Zarutska’s death on former Democratic governor Roy Cooper, now a candidate. Republicans Michael Whatley and local lawmakers echoed those attacks, invoking Black Lives Matter protests and racial equity initiatives to argue Democrats coddle criminals. By the end of the rally, GOP speakers escalated the rhetoric into a culture-war battle cry, casting the violence as part of a broader “war” against Western civilization itself.

Watch the video below for JD Vance's response to Raw Story investigative reporter Jordan Green's question.