Changes needed after Minneapolis ICE shooting
An ICE agent’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Minnesota mother of three raises questions and protests over the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
It’s time to take a hard look at how the roundup of what President Trump has promised will be millions of “the worst of the worst” is being conducted.
On January 7, Renee Nicole Good had just dropped her 6-year-old son off at school when she and her partner drove to the site of an ICE raid in Minneapolis. It was the second day of what the Trump administration said was the country’s largest-ever immigration crackdown. More than 2,000 federal agents swarmed the area to conduct raids.
As in other targeted, mostly Democratic cities, advocacy groups formed to monitor and document raids and warn people of approaching federal agents. Good showed up to support the effort.
This is where the story gets murky. The events leading up to Good’s fatal shooting are disputed. But before the investigation began, President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees ICE, said Good was a domestic terrorist and that the agent fired in self-defense.
Eyewitness accounts and bystander videos tell a different story. Ordered by officers to move her car, Good first backed up, turned the wheel and moved forward. An officer, who positioned himself in front of Good’s vehicle, fired into the car’s windshield. He pulled into the driver’s side again as she drove by.
Despite calls from Minnesota leaders for a joint state-federal investigation, the FBI and DHS refuse to share evidence with state agencies.
“People in positions of power have already made their judgments, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem — and told you things that are blatantly inaccurate,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said, adding that it will be “very, very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation that excludes the state could be fair.
The fatal shooting in Minnesota is just one of ICE’s latest violent encounters since expanded immigration operations began last January.
Most follow a similar pattern: Federal agents wearing face masks remove suspects from cars, buildings or the street. Bystanders, accused of interference, are arrested and often charged with crimes. But when cases go to court, many charges are reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed for lack of evidence. Often, bystander videos successfully challenge ICE agents’ accounts.
Kern County is no stranger to this scenario.
Last January, Customs and Border Protection conducted “return to sender” operations at convenience stores and gathering places in Kern County. The federal agency said the sweeps targeted identified criminals. However, an investigation by media outlet CalMatters found that CBP had no criminal or immigration information on 77 of the 78 people arrested.
Sworn testimony and videos taken at the scene showed CBP officers slashing tires, pulling people from trucks, throwing people to the ground and insulting farmworkers. A video showing agents slashing the tires of a gardener, an American citizen, as he went to work has sparked outrage.
In response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Judge Jennifer Thurston of U.S. District Court in Bakersfield ruled that federal immigration agents stopped and searched people indiscriminately, without suspicion or reasonable cause, and without a warrant.
“You can’t just walk up to brown-skinned people and say, ‘Give me your papers,'” Thurston wrote in his 88-page ruling barring CBP officers from stopping and arresting people in the Central California Judicial District without reasonable suspicion.
Changes in law enforcement must be made:
Body cameras — Distribute body cameras to all ICE agents and require them to be worn and used.
Face masks — Officers must show their faces.
Investigations — Federal, state, and local law enforcement must share investigative evidence when ICE raids become violent.
Training — More than 12,000 new ICE agents have been hired in the past year. Previously, basic officer training lasted 20 weeks and included legal education and de-escalation techniques. The current eight-week “streamlined” training must be reviewed to determine its adequacy.
Congressional Oversight – Hearings must be held to assure Americans that Trump’s immigration crackdown is fair, equitable, compassionate and legal.
