DHS immigration push has left 2 dead, with agents and the public claiming harm

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shooting and killing 37-year-old Renee Good resurrected concerns from politicians and others about the tactics federal immigration agents will use to meet President Donald Trump’s deportation goals. Two have been killed while federal law enforcement agencies say they are the ones being harmed.

A chilly morning in Minneapolis grew tense as thousands of federal immigration agents descended on the city for fraud and immigration enforcement actions. That was the backdrop when Jonathan Ross, an ICE agent, shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. The shooting was captured on phones from multiple angles, leading to tense disagreement about whether the shooting was justified.

Minnesotan officials criticized the shooting as the fault of federal officers for inciting confrontation, something they said is happening in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New York City and Portland, Oregon. 

“We do not want you here,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told ICE during a Wednesday press conference. “Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite.”

Their fears headbutted with claims from Trump administration officials that it is, instead, federal immigration agents who are being harmed during the enforcement actions. The administration says federal officers have experienced a 1,150% increase in assaults, such as the September fatal shooting at a Dallas facility and an incident in San Francisco where a man threatened to stab an officer, DHS said. 

“Our law enforcement officers have had Molotov cocktails and rocks thrown at them, been shot at, had cars used as weapons against them, and been physically assaulted,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in November.

DHS nor ICE responded to Straight Arrow News’ requests for comment regarding employee suspensions and protocol on what happens when an agent is injured on the job. Department policy requires agents who use excessive force to face administrative or criminal penalties where applicable.

The dueling narratives challenged the public on who to believe as governments urge federal agents to leave their areas and keep a log of complaints, while others praise the actions.

“The videos make clear: the ICE officer was justified and Democratic politicians lied about what happened,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X Friday. “Proud to stand with our brave ICE officers against the left-wing mob.”

Interactions between the public, agents become deadly

Immigration operations across the nation kicked up after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration and quickly took over the airwaves for detainments and arrests of people whom Trump administration officials claimed had ties to cartels or gangs in Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and elsewhere. 

Some operations have turned deadly. 

In Los Angeles, an off-duty ICE agent shot and killed Keith Porter following celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve. The agent identified himself and requested Porter to drop his weapon. Porter didn’t comply and the agent shot him. According to the LA Times, DHS classified Porter as an active shooter, while his family said the agent overreacted. Firing shots into the air is a felony in California.

In a Chicago suburb, ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, in September while attempting to arrest him. Homeland Security claimed that Villegas-Gonzalez drove his car at law enforcement, hitting one. That same officer was dragged a “significant distance” and fired his weapon. 

Homeland Security and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had conflicting accounts of what led to the shooting. Pritzker said that Villegas-Gonzalez dropped his kids off at daycare and was going to work. Homeland Security said in an Oct. 6 release that the man was an unauthorized immigrant and the agent shot him in fear of his life. 

Neither Homeland Security nor ICE gave any updates to the press regarding whether the agents involved were suspended or investigated for their actions. The agencies have praised the officers for their actions and said they were either attacked or that violent rhetoric has put agents on edge when interacting with some people. 

For agents, federal prosecutors charged Juan Espinoza Martinez with trying to hire someone to murder a federal immigration agent in Chicago. Martinez had allegedly offered an unknown person $12,000 for locating and killing the official. According to court records, prosecutors accused Martinez of being a ranking member of the Chicago-based Latin Kings gang.

DHS combats claims of assault

The fatal shootings were an anomaly in the past year for ICE and other federal immigration agents, but the agencies have been accused of assaulting members of the public.

The most notable accusations arose out of Los Angeles and the Chicago suburbs as they spurred lawsuits. In Los Angeles, a 79-year-old man filed a civil lawsuit against Homeland Security, where he sought $50 million in damages after they tackled him to the ground on Sept. 9, The Associated Press reported. Footage of the detainment went viral on social media, showing federal agents knocking and tackling Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a naturalized citizen, to the ground outside of a carwash business. 

In the Chicago suburb of Broadview, where an ICE facility is located, the Chicago press and protesters sued DHS for allegedly violating their civil rights during demonstrations. They claimed that agents used excessive force against people protesting, with one incident centering on the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago pastor David Black, whom agents shot with pepper bullets while he prayed. 

The groups sought to dismiss the lawsuit after federal agents left Broadview. U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis has yet to rule on the dismissal and approved a request from media outlets to unseal a hearing transcript and to release about 500 unseen videos and use-of-force reports, Block Club Chicago reported Monday. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced charges against one of the two people whom federal agents shot in Portland on Jan. 8. She accused the man of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. She said in a post on X that the man allegedly rammed a Border Patrol vehicle and that he should have never been in the U.S. Oregonian officials haven’t yet commented on the charges, but have requested the public to send in photos and videos of the incident.

One event did warrant an officer’s suspension. 

An ICE agent was captured on video pushing a woman to the ground outside of an immigration office in Manhattan. The Sept. 25 incident involved an Ecuadorian woman who was confronting immigration agents who were detaining her husband. One agent appeared to yank the woman’s hair in a video. The suspended officer then appeared to push the Ecuadorian woman into a wall and then onto the floor.

DHS said the woman and her husband were in the U.S. unlawfully and faced deportation. The agent who was seen pushing the woman was suspended. CBS News later discovered the agent was reinstated. 

There is no public data source that tallies public accusations of physical assaults by ICE agents. Democrats in Congress created a portal on their Oversight Committee website, but the portal is for news submissions.

Conflicts with Homeland Security’s use-of-force policy

Cato Institute legal scholar Mike Fox wrote in an opinion piece on MS Now that a “lethal pattern has emerged” during Trump’s deportation blitz with the two fatal shootings prior to Wednesday. Each was justified as a means of self-defense, but Fox said it conflicts with Homeland Security’s use-of-force policy, which was updated in February 2023. 

The policy, issued under former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, establishes that force can only be used when “no reasonably effective, safe, and feasible alternative appears to exist and may use only the level of force that is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the LEO at the time force is applied.” All Department of Homeland Security employees are mandated to follow the policy. 

Employees must stop using further physical force when the incident is either under control or resistance ends. Following that, personnel are required to get medical help for people who are either injured or say they are. 

Officers must also prevent or stop another officer they believe is using excessive force, if possible. After the incident, the officer and any other department employees who witnessed violations of the policy have to report it to the department’s internal affairs. 

Deadly force is not permitted when a person is fleeing, which DHS claimed to have happened in Good’s and Villegas-Gonzalez cases. However, it can be used if the officer has a belief that the person is posing a “significant threat of death or serious physical harm” to the officer or others. Officers are also prohibited from shooting at people who are actively operating a car, boat, aircraft or other transportation.

“Deadly force shall not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject,” according to the policy.

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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief