All of us

There is now video after video after video of ICE snatching people off the streets and out of cars, assaulting them, disappearing them for hours or all together. Many times these are US citizens...even minor US citizens. They're actually going door to door now. No warrants. No cause. 

Report after report of detainees being denied medical care and worse still, over 30 people died in ICE custody last year -- the most in over two decades. It should be noted that no ICE agents have died despite how many times we are told they are in terrible danger.

And now of course, a 37 year old mother of three, Renee Good, shot in the head three times and killed by ICE in broad daylight. The shooter fleeing the scene with his gun and any bodily evidence. There are now resignations from the DOJ's Civil Rights Division and federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office based in Minneapolis over the way the shooting is being handled or should we say mishandled. The FBI has refused to cooperate in any way with local and State officials.

The President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of Homeland Security all labeling Good as a domestic terrorist and her killer innocent minutes after the shooting. The Secretary of Homeland Security doing so behind a podium labeled with an actual Nazi/fascist slogan.

And despite the bot comments in every news story on the subject claiming that all she had to do was comply (the way they have any time any Black person has been wrongly hurt by police), the majority of the American public does not agree. Poll after poll shows that the majority believe the shooter was in the wrong, the majority believe that ICE is acting unlawfully, and 47% want ICE abolished -- an opinion that would have been considered wildly radical mere months ago.

What is happening in Minneapolis is insanity. It is the government declaring war on the city and everyone in it including US citizens. 

Anything that you can do at this moment, whether protesting, or contacting your elected officials, or writing letters to the editor, or speaking to your friends and family about this.-- literally anything -- needs to be done and needs to be done right now. We are all of us at war.

Senator McCormick Responds

Today is January 14.

On January 12, I posted this and sent the link to Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick's office.

Yesterday, January 13, I got an email response.

It's notable for what it says and what it doesn't say.

After thanking me for "sharing" my thoughts on the "recent fatal shooting in Minneapolis" the Senator writes:

I support ICE officers and other federal law enforcement personnel who risk their lives daily to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law. The tragic events in Minnesota are deeply concerning and warrant a full and transparent investigation to ensure the facts are clearly established and public confidence is maintained. 

Senator McCormick leaves out the part that the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, the part of the DOJ that usually takes the lead in such high profile investigations, will not be participating in this investigation - as per the orders of the Trump DOJ.

In his next paragraph, there's this sentence:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently conducting an independent investigation to determine the full facts and circumstances surrounding this loss of life. 

He leaves out how senior Justice Department officials overruled the decision to have the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension - a state agency that reviews police shootings - cooperate in the investigation.

And take a look at the other sentence in that paragraph:

On January 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot during a federal immigration enforcement operation in south Minneapolis.  

Note the passive voice there. How "Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot..." and how there's no mention of who fatally shot Renee Good (not even with the necessary "alleged").

Then there's the next paragraph:

I also believe that we must all work to lower the temperature of our public discourse. While strong disagreements are a part of our democratic system and should be debated vigorously, inflammatory rhetoric and violent protests, led by paid activists, have put law enforcement officers and others at risk. The statistics are troubling: assaults on ICE officers have increased by 1,347 percent, and reported death threats have risen by more than 8,000 percent compared to this time last year. Dehumanizing rhetoric distorts reality and creates a dangerous climate where violence becomes the inevitable next step.  

Senator McCormick leaves out how, even before the investigation started, Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Noem were asserting "facts" that were either not supported by evidence or completely untrue (that Good was a domestic terrorist or how she "ran over" the officer).

But sure, let's "lower the temperature of our public discourse."

Then there's the statistics.  They come directly from the aforementioned Secretary Noem's DHS, released January 8 - the day after Renee Good's killing by an ICE officer.

Have these statistics been independently verified? How much trust should we put in them, given the context?

Bottom line, Senator: One of Donald Trump's ICE agents killed Renee Good and it looks an awful lot like Donald Trump's DOJ is doing its weaponized best to cover it up. 

Here's the letter from Sen McCormick:

 

 

And Now...War Crimes

From The New York Times:

The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September, according to officials briefed on the matter. The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings, they said.

And:

Retired Maj. Gen. Steven J. Lepper, a former deputy judge advocate general for the United States Air Force, said that if the aircraft had been painted in a way that disguised its military nature and got close enough for the people on the boat to see it — tricking them into failing to realize they should take evasive action or surrender to survive — that was a war crime under armed-conflict standards.

“Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy,” he said. “If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft, it should not be engaged in combatant activity.”

Perfidy.

Let's look at that.

From the Geneva Convention

Article 37 - Prohibition of perfidy

 

  1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is obliged to accord, protection under the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The following acts are examples of perfidy: 

 

  (c) the feigning of civilian, non-combatant status        

From the DOD Law of War Manual: 

5.22.2 Perfidy - “Kill or Wound”. It is prohibited to use perfidy to kill or wound the enemy. 

And the US Navy/Marines/Coast Guard Handbook on Naval Operations:

Honor prohibits perfidy, the misuse of certain signs, fighting in the enemy’s uniform, feigning nonhostile relations in order to seek a military advantage...

And so on.

Perfidy. Prohibited. War crime. 

 

 

The Cover-up Of Renee Good's Killing

H/t to Liz Oyer.

From CBS:

Prosecutors in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division were told they will not play a role in the ongoing investigation into a fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Leadership in the Civil Rights Division, overseen by Harmeet Dhillon, informed staff in the division's criminal section that there would not be an investigation, two sources said. Normally, after a high-profile incident involving a fatal shooting by an officer, attorneys from the criminal section fly out to the scene. Multiple career prosecutors offered to do so in this case, but they were told not to do so, one of the sources added. 

While investigations into the excessive use of force can be pursued solely by a U.S. Attorney's office without direct involvement from the Civil Rights Division, it is customary for the division's federal prosecutors to take the lead on high-profile investigations like the one in Minnesota.

From the Civil Rights Division website:

Congress created the Civil Rights Division in 1957 to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status, military status and national origin.

Except, apparently, Renee Good - who was killed by an ICE agent a few days ago. 

From another section of that same website, we learn that the Civil Rights Division, under 18 U.S.C. § 242 is tasked to investigate "Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law" specifically:

This provision makes it a crime for someone acting under color of law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. It is not necessary that the offense be motivated by racial bias or by any other animus.

Defendants act under color of law when they wield power vested by a government entity.  Those prosecuted under the statute typically include police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and prison guards.  However other government actors, such as judges, district attorneys, other public officials, and public school employees can also act under color of law and can be prosecuted under this statute.

This apparently doesn't apply to Renee Good, who was killed by one of Trump's ICE agents a few days ago.

Interesting part of the story, Harmeet Dhillon is in fact an immigrant herself - born in India and grew up in The Bronx and then North Carolina and became a US citizen when she was 12. She's the one who, I suppose, decided against using the Civil Rights Division to investigate an ICE agent who killed a US citizen.

Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick also voted to confirm Dhillon as head of that division. 

Senator McCormick, are you OK with the Civil Rights Division not investigating the killing of Renee Good?

 

 

 

 

Another Reminder (After Trump's ICE Killed A US Citizen)

Remember, I am not a lawyer, just a concerned citizen.

Let's start (as we should always start) with the Constitution.  Specifically the Amendments.

This one:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...

And this one:

No person shall be ... compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law...

Note that it says "The right the people" and "No person" and not "The right of the citizens"  and "No citizen." 

That means they apply to everybody. 

8 U.S. Code § 1357 says:  

Any officer or employee of the Service authorized under regulations prescribed by the Attorney General shall have power without warrant—

(1) to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States;

(2) to arrest any alien who in his presence or view is entering or attempting to enter the United States in violation of any law or regulation made in pursuance of law regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, or to arrest any alien in the United States, if he has reason to believe that the alien so arrested is in the United States in violation of any such law or regulation and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest, but the alien arrested shall be taken without unnecessary delay for examination before an officer of the Service having authority to examine aliens as to their right to enter or remain in the United States;

Note that it only applies to "any alien" or any "person believed to be an alien" - and only within the limits of asking about his "right to be or remain in the United States."

ICE has no legal authority to interrogate any US citizen and certainly no authority to demand entry into that citizen's house/apartment or make a demand for that citizen to exit their vehicle.  

Trump's ICE agent killed a US Citizen.

 

A Reminder (About DHS After Trump's ICE Killed An American Citizen)

H/T to Huffpost:

The explicit, publicly available policies of the Department of Homeland Security for use of force and deadly force and the 1989 and 1985 Supreme Court cases Graham v. Connor and Tennessee v. Garner, support that reality — along with the locally relevant Minnesota State Statute 609.066.

Let's go dig a little deeper the DHS Department Policy Use of Force document, shall we?

It contains this: 

Unless further restricted by DHS Component policy, DHS LEOs are permitted to use force to control subjects in the course of their official duties as authorized by law, and in defense of themselves and others. In doing so, a LEO shall use only the force that is objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting him or her at the time force is applied. [Bolding in original]

And this:

DHS LEOs should seek to employ tactics and techniques that effectively bring an incident under control while promoting the safety of LEOs and the public, and that minimize the risk of unintended injury or serious property damage. DHS LEOs should also avoid intentionally and unreasonably placing themselves in positions in which they have no alternative to using deadly force.

And this:

As soon as practicable following a use of force and the end of any perceived public safety threat, DHS LEOs shall obtain appropriate medical assistance for any subject who has visible or apparent injuries, complains of being injured, or requests medical attention. This may include rendering first aid if properly trained and equipped to do so, requesting emergency medical services, and/or arranging transportation to an appropriate medical facility.

And this:

A DHS LEO may use deadly force only when the LEO has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the LEO or to another person.

And this:

Fleeing Subjects: Deadly force shall not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject. However, deadly force is authorized to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject where the LEO has a reasonable belief that the subject poses a significant threat of death or serious physical harm to the LEO or others and such force is necessary to prevent escape. [Underline in original]

And this:

DHS LEOs are prohibited from discharging firearms at the operator of a moving vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or other conveyance unless the use of deadly force against the operator is justified under the standards articulated elsewhere in this policy. Before using deadly force under these circumstances, the LEO must take into consideration the hazards that may be posed to law enforcement and innocent bystanders by an out-of- control conveyance.

So the shooter should not have put himself in a position where he might have to use deadly force and Trump's ICE crew should have rendered medical care to the woman one of them just shot. They should not have shot at the car if they thought shooting it would stop the woman from fleeing.

Trump's ICE killed an American citizen. 

Orwell Still Matters

The Frame from Orwell

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

Our reality right now.

Trump: 

The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer...

JD Vance: 

“I’m not happy that this woman lost her life,” he said of Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was fatally shot during a confrontation with ICE officers Wednesday. President Donald Trump has said that Good was "resisting" orders and "viciously ran over the ICE Officer" during an immigration-related operation in the city.  

Noem:

Today, in an act of domestic terrorism, an anti-ICE rioter weaponized her vehicle against law enforcement.

None of any of that was, in fact true.

The CBC:

Good turns her front wheels to the right and her vehicle starts to move forward. At that point, the third officer appears to be less a metre in front of the driver's side edge of the SUV's hood.

The officer then pulls his gun and fires what appears to be three shots into the vehicle. Even as he fires the first shot, the front of the vehicle has clearly passed him as it turns right and he is shooting as he stands beside it.

Trump's ICE agents kill an American citizen and then blame her for it. 

In doing so they're telling you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.

 

 

Trump's ICE Kills American Citizen

This was inevitable.  Still is.

From The Guardian:

Federal agents shot and killed a woman during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday. 

Ilhan Omar, the Democratic Minnesota congresswoman, said the victim was “a legal observer” of action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which had sent a surge of agents into the city in recent days tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. 

A witness to the incident, Emily Heller, told local media that the victim was shot in the face multiple times. Heller said she saw a car blocking traffic that appeared to be part of a protest against the ICE operation, and heard an agent telling the driver, a woman, to “get out of here”. 

“She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in – like his midriff was on her bumper – and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,” Heller told MPR News, a Minneapolis public radio station. 

The woman has been identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a US citizen and mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota.

More from NPR: 

NPR and MPR have reviewed multiple videos of the shooting taken from different vantage points and posted to social media. The footage shows multiple officers near an SUV stopped in the middle of the road. One officer demands the driver exit the vehicle and grabs the car handle. The SUV reverses, then begins to drive forward, which is when a different officer near the front of the car pulls his weapon and fires into the vehicle. Three gunshots are heard, as the firing officer backs away from the SUV. Moments later, the vehicle crashes.

You can see it here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MPR News (@mprnews)

 

She was not blocking the road.  She was trying to drive away.

Trump's ICE killed her and then tried to say she was at fault because this was an act of domestic terrorism.

It was. The ICE shooters are the terrorists.