
Family of Renee Good sues ICE agent who shot her and top Trump officials
Wife and brother of Minneapolis woman killed in immigration crackdown allege wrongful death
The family of Renee Good, the woman killed by immigration agents in January in Minneapolis, filed two federal lawsuits against the agent who shot her and several top officials in the Trump administration on Thursday.
In the lawsuits, GoodâÂÂs partner, Becca Good, and her brother, Brent Ganger, alleged wrongful death and other violations of federal law, according to a press release issued by their lawyers.
Good was a US citizen and mother of three who, on 7 January, joined her wife in protesting against the deployment of thousands of ICE agents in their city as part of the Trump administrationâÂÂs mass deportation policy.
The 37-year-old woman was shot and killed in her car by an agent who claimed he acted in self-defense and the Department of Homeland Security claimed that she had engaged in âÂÂan act of domestic terrorismâÂÂ. Multiple video clips of the encounter, however, show that Good was steering her vehicle away from the agent as she tried to drive away.
Her death and that of Alex Pretti, an American nurse who was also shot and killed by an immigration agent during Minneapolis protests two weeks later, sparked outrage and a wave of anger across the country.
Shortly after GoodâÂÂs killing, Todd Blanche, then deputy attorney general, said he saw no grounds for opening a civil rights investigation. Days later, the justice department opened an investigation into the relationship between Becca Good, the deceasedâÂÂs partner, and protest groups. At least 10 prosecutors resigned following the fatal shootings.
Now, these lawsuits have become some of the first major civil lawsuits filed against TrumpâÂÂs deportation campaign in Minnesota.
In one of them, the attorneys for GoodâÂÂs wife and brother allege wrongful death and seek to recover â receive damages â for the âÂÂimmense suffering Renee endured in the final moments of her life and for the profound and permanent losses that her death has inflicted upon her familyâÂÂ.
âÂÂThe complaint also seeks to recover for Becca Good, who was standing feet from the coupleâÂÂs vehicle when Ross fired three rounds into it, and she watched her partner die,â the complaint says.
âÂÂPeaceful assembly, speech and even dissent are protected rights. However, the government has distorted the exercise of these rights as violence against our republic and acted with extreme and unconstitutional force, causing egregious harm. Many of these illegal uses of force resulted in death â including the death of an American mother of three, Renee Good [â¦] TodayâÂÂs legal actions demand accountability for countless violations of the law, the Constitution and the Department of Homeland SecurityâÂÂs (DHS) own rules governing the use of force,â the lawsuit says.
The other lawsuit alleges a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by senior federal officials and federal immigration enforcement agents, and names Jonathan Ross, the immigration officer who shot Good, the former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, the White House deputy chief of staff and architect of hardline US immigration policies, Stephen Miller, and former US border patrol officer Gregory Bovino, among others, for their âÂÂroles in Renee GoodâÂÂs deathâÂÂ.
Backlash against TrumpâÂÂs anti-immigration campaign following the deaths in January led the president to withdraw agents from Minnesota in January, and there has been no other deployment of that kind to a major US city since then. However, investigations such as the one by the Guardian are showing that ICE is arresting more people than ever, while the administration shifted its tactics from âÂÂsiegeâ to âÂÂsoft feetâÂÂ.
