Readers Write: ICE and the shooting of Renee Good

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shot her dog because it was not meeting expectations. Apparently, Noem had higher expectations for her dog than she does for her agents.

The shooter, identified as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross, appeared to never even offer medical aid to the woman he shot. The other officers denied a doctor who was in the crowd the chance to see if he could help. Then the ambulance was blocked from getting near. The EMTs had to carry Renee Good by her limbs to the ambulance. When defending her agents in a news conference, Noem has set a new performance low for the highly trained ICE employees.

And on Jan. 8, Vice President JD Vance, when speaking about a previous incident where Ross was dragged by a car, said, “So you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?” Well, if Ross is still that sensitive from a previous incident, should he have been on the street with a gun in the first place? Perhaps if he had been assigned a desk job, Good would still be alive.

Teresa Maki, Minnetonka

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Candace Germain, Excelsior

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Noem said that ICE officers had been trying to dig their vehicle from a snowbank on the morning of Jan. 7. If ICE officers got a car stuck in a snowbank on a cleared street in south Minneapolis, maybe they shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns.

Howard Schneider, Lakeville

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The video clearly shows Ross continuing to fire after the vehicle is moving away from him. Shots were fired through the open driver’s-side window, which would be impossible had the car been headed directly toward Ross. And even had the car been headed toward the agent (it wasn’t), if the agent had enough time to draw his firearm, aim and fire, he had enough time to take a quick step to the side. And as a supposedly trained officer, he would know that shooting the driver of a vehicle does not stop the vehicle — Good’s vehicle accelerated and crashed after she was shot — so if he was actually worried about being run over, he would know to move out of the direction of the vehicle instead of shoot at the driver.

The videos clearly show a man killing a woman for reasons other than reasonable fear for his own life. Anyone suggesting otherwise has either not taken the time to look at the videos or is uninterested in the truth.

And this isn’t just my opinion. Analyses by the New York Times and Washington Post both show that the shooting was unjustified. The Star Tribune interviewed five use-of-force experts on the situation and none defended the shooting.

Supporters of Ross’ actions want us to believe absurdity.

Matthew Byrnes, Hopkins

Let’s explore the argument, set forward this week by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the death of so-called “domestic terrorist” Good, that a car can be considered a weapon. If this is true, then isn’t it the height of irresponsibility for someone to shoot and kill a car’s driver, turning said “weapon” into an uncontrolled missile following the driver’s last trajectory? And isn’t it lucky that the path of Good’s car didn’t cross any children, other ICE agents, moving vehicles or houses?

To quote a popular conservative commentator: just asking questions.

Carl Schroeder, Minneapolis

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The president has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect our borders and to remove people who are here illegally. That is what ICE is doing. We are not being “invaded,” “occupied” or “at war” with the federal government. If people simply stepped back and let ICE do their job, there would be no problem. I believe the inflammatory rhetoric from Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, amplified by the media, is an effort to distract from the rampant corruption and fraud that has been allowed to happen in Minnesota.

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If the administration wants citizens to respect law enforcement, why did the president pardon all the Jan. 6 rioters?

Dave Hauschild, Blaine

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One thing to remember about the ICE situation is that it should have been unnecessary. There was a bill (the Bipartisan Border Security Bill from 2024) that would have solved many of the problems seen at the border. The bill was endorsed by the Border Patrol union and supported by Democrats and Republicans. Trump did not want the bill, as he wanted immigration to be a campaign topic, so it was tabled.

Michael Thomsen, St. Paul

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While sitting in my parked car on Thursday morning in front of the supermarket in Morris, Minn., I was reading about the young woman from Minneapolis who was shot in her moving SUV after refusing to submit to commands made by law enforcement agents. As I briefly looked up from my newspaper, I noticed an SUV speeding through the supermarket’s parking lot. It was driven by a young woman. She refused to stop at the stop sign at the east end of the parking lot and, a moment later, repeated this dangerous behavior at the stop sign leading onto busy E. Seventh Street. All of these events prompted some thoughts: Why do we have societal rules, regulations and laws in Minnesota? Should these requirements be obeyed? Should they be enforced? Just asking.

Frank Forcella, Morris, Minn.

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Denise Saupé, Minneapolis

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After the tragic killing of Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, the secretary of Homeland Security gave a news conference where she was quick to give her version of what happened.

She also mentioned the increasing number of assaults on ICE officers over the past several months, and even said that just on that day, three people had used their vehicles to ram officers. In her mind, ICE agents are the victims, not the innocent people they terrorize.

Here’s what she doesn’t mention: ICE agents hide behind masks and show up in unmarked cars. They speak to the public with profanity-laced language, and, as we have all seen thanks to the countless trained observers who record such interactions, they profile people based on the color of their skin, pull them out of their cars, kick them when they’re down and treat them with zero dignity or respect.