Washington, DC — Leading commentators and elected officials are decrying the killing of Renee Nicole Good and the larger pattern of violence at the hands of federal agents nationwide. At the same time these leaders are calling for accountability, transparency and reform.
As Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice stated yesterday, “it is imperative that Americans from all backgrounds and political persuasions call out the violence and demand accountability…we all should remind ourselves about our democratic norms and values and recommit to do better– this is not who we are as a nation.”
Among the many powerful voices include:
- Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in The New York Times, “I’m the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You,” noting, “The Trump administration’s false narrative about this week’s shooting, and the demonization of the victim, are only part of a bigger lie. It wants the American public to believe that ICE’s heavily militarized crackdown across this country is an effort to keep cities like Minneapolis safe. It is not. It is about vilifying not just immigrants, but all who welcome them and their contributions to our communities. By defending the lie about this clearly avoidable shooting in Minneapolis and refusing to allow Minnesota officials to investigate the crime, the administration is sending a message to the entire country: If you show up for your immigrant neighbors, or even are simply present when those neighbors are taken, your rights will not be protected by the law and your life will be at risk.”
- MS Now show host Chris Hayes, who opened his show noting, “It has long been a concern that ICE would provoke a mass mobilization in response to their presence on American streets, and then Trump would use that as a pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act. We know he has even mused about shooting protesters in the past. Right now, the city of Minneapolis and the whole country are reeling from yet another tragedy, a death that was, as the governor said correctly, entirely preventable, at the hands of masked agents directed by Donald Trump.”
- Michelle Goldberg in her New York Times opinion column, “By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All,” noting, “All of us, citizens and immigrants alike, are being ruled by people who think life is a privilege bestowed by authority, and death is a fair penalty for disobedience.”
- The Atlantic columnist Adam Serwer, “First the Shooting. Then the Lies,” noting, “The blatant lies about Minneapolis serve several purposes. They perpetuate the false narrative that federal agents are in constant peril and therefore justified in using lethal force at the slightest hint of danger. They assure federal agents that they can harm or even kill American citizens with impunity and warn those who might be moved to protest Trump’s immigration policies of the same thing. Perhaps most grim, they communicate to the public that if you happen to be killed by a federal agent, your government will bear false witness to the world that you were a terrorist.”
- Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) notes on X (Twitter): “Democrats cannot vote for a DHS budget that doesn’t restrain the growing lawlessness of this agency [ICE]”
