Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday slammed the Trump administration for attempting to “exploit” political violence by blaming Democrats for the uptick in attack on officials nationwide, including a deadly shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. 

“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 said during a Thursday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“There is a moment where you cross the line, but what they are trying to do is to destroy the ability for people who oppose their policies to legitimately engage in political debate, and we are not going to let them do that,” he added. 

In recent weeks, President Trump has blamed his political opponents for a series of killings in different states across the country, including the fatal shooting of conservative leader Charlie Kirk in addition to the killing of a Ukrainian woman in Charlotte. 

One detainee was killed while two others were critically injured on Wednesday at an ICE field office in Dallas. No law enforcement officers or ICE officials were harmed. FBI Director Kash Patel said the gunman wrote a note that said “hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror” before opening fire, but police are still working to uncover the shooter’s motive.

“The Brave Men and Women of ICE are just trying to do their jobs, and remove the ‘WORST of the WORST’ Criminals out of our Country, but they are facing an unprecedented increase in threats, violence, and attacks by Deranged Radical Leftists,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon.

Vice President Vance voiced similar comments the same day at an event in North Carolina.

“The obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop,” Vice President Vance also posted on the social platform X soon after news of the shooting broke. “I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families.”

Jon Favreau, host of “Pod Save America” and a speechwriter under former President Obama, posted on social media that Vance “is not a reliable source of information.”

“This is now the fifth or sixth time he’s posted a political take contradicted by facts from his own law enforcement agencies,” Favreau wrote.

Democrats in Congress also pushed back on the narrative stemming from the president and vice president. 

“Leave it to this administration to use a shooting against immigrant detainees to score political points and further provoke violence. We have to get guns off our streets and reject xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment that makes all of us less safe,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) wrote in response to Vance’s post.

Murphy on Thursday echoed her concerns.

“This president, this vice president, has had a chance now since the assassination of Charlie Kirk to bring the country together, to try to stamp out all sorts of violence, including political violence, and they refuse to do that,” the senator said.

“What they are trying to do is exploit these murders and these shootings in order to silence only dissents and political opposition on the left.”