Family of Renee Good, the Queer Mother Who Was Killed by ICE Agent in Minneapolis, Sues Trump Administration
Good was shot and killed on January 7 during an immigration crackdown in Minnesota as she acted as a citizen observer in Minneapolis.
On Thursday, lawyers representing the family of Renee Good, a queer woman and mother killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this year, announced they were suing the United States government and immigration officials.
Good was shot and killed on January 7 during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, which saw hundreds of ICE agents descend on the state.
The law firm Romanucci & Blandin LLC announced two civil lawsuits related to the death of Good, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. The family is alleging wrongful death.
“Renee’s death was not an accident,” the firm said in a press release, according to the paper. “It was the predictable result of a coordinated campaign by senior officials in this administration to target Minnesotans of Somali or Hispanic origin and silence anyone who dared to raise their voice in protest.”
The release continued: “Operation Metro Surge was built on exaggerated fraud accusations that the White House embraced as a pretext for thousands of masked, unidentified federal agents to rove neighborhoods and stop people based on how they looked. Administration officials told agents to force confrontations with observers like Renee and led agents to believe they would face no consequences for using force.”
The Associated Press reports that one suit claims that claims of battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence caused her death. The other lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.
ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot at Good as she drove away from a confrontation between community members and agents. Good had been acting as a citizen observer as ICE swept through her community. Ross is one of those named in the suits.
In the immediate aftermath, Good’s wife was recorded crying, saying, “I made her come down here, it’s my fault,” and “They just shot my wife.”
At the time of the shooting, the Trump administration said Good had participated in “domestic terrorism.” Department of Homeland Security officials said Ross was “fearing for his life.”
In the suit, the family says that Good was unarmed and was not a suspect of a crime, her stopped vehicle did not disrupt traffic, and she had spoken to Ross in a calm manner before he shot her. The suit also says that Ross had already moved away from the car before he shot at Good.
Video from the incident shows that Ross was never on the ground and that he walked away from the scene on his own.
Other named defendants in the suits include White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller; former Homeland Security head Kristi Noem; former U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, Corey Lewandowski, President Donald Trump’s campaign manager; and others, according to the AP.
Good was killed only weeks before another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, was also shot by DHS agents.
The AP reports that at least 10 people have been killed in Trump’s immigration crackdown.
