Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stood by the ICE officer who fatally shot a woman during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, adding that he had been previously “dragged” in a vehicle ramming months before.
Speaking at a Wednesday night press conference, Noem provided more details about what happened, along with broader context. The interaction began when a vehicle became stuck in snow, Noem said, allowing a “mob of agitators” to congregate around the ICE officers. The woman in question, identified elsewhere as 37-year-old Renee Good, used her vehicle to block the path of ICE officers, the homeland secretary said.
“ICE officers and agents approached the vehicle of the individual in question, who was blocking the officers in with her vehicle, and she had been stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day,” Noem said.
“ICE agents repeatedly ordered her to get out of the car and to stop obstructing law enforcement, but she refused to obey their commands. She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over with it,” Noem added. “This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism. The ICE officer, fearing for his life and the other officers around him and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues.”
Noem said the officer who fired the shots was briefly treated at a local hospital and was now with his family.
“We’ve seen over 100 of these vehicle rammings happen in just recent weeks, and this must stop,” she said. “ICE alone is facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats against all of them. In fact, the very same officer who was attacked today had previously been dragged by an anti-ICE rider who had rammed him with a car and [dragged] him back in June. He sustained injuries at that time as well.”
Noem said she had spoken on the phone with President Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Walz (D-MN) on the phone about the matter, though she went on to criticize the governor and Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for their handling of crime and immigration.
Democrats have nearly unanimously rejected the Trump administration’s characterization of events, led by Walz and Frey. Critics have focused on several areas of contention, such as whether the ICE officer was hit, whether the ICE officer was injured, what Good was doing when ICE officers approached her vehicle, and whether the ICE officer could have reasonably believed that his life was in danger. Both sides have cited the same video as evidence to validate their points.
“I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine. The state will ensure there is a full, fair, and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,” Walz said in response to DHS’s statement.
“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines, and conflict. It’s governing by reality TV, and today that recklessness cost someone their life,” Walz said at an earlier news conference, describing the shooting as “predictable” and “totally avoidable.”
Frey used more inflammatory rhetoric, telling ICE to “get the f*** out of Minneapolis” and saying the purpose of ICE in Minneapolis isn’t to provide safety but now “literally killing people.”
“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: That is bulls***,” he said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) also replied directly to DHS’s comment on the incident: “You’re lying. There was no attempt to run the officer over, and no ICE agents appear to be hurt. Get out of our city.”
Omar released a longer statement extending her condemnation to ICE overall, saying its officers are not law enforcement but purveyors of “state violence,” calling for a legal investigation into the agency and for ICE agents to be removed from Minnesota.
Trump led the Republican defense of the ICE agent, saying the video capturing the incident was a “horrible thing to watch” but that the agent acted correctly.
WALZ LEADS DEMOCRATS IN REJECTING TRUMP ‘PROPAGANDA’ AFTER ICE FATALLY SHOOTS WOMAN
“The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense,” Trump said.
“Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital,” he added.
