Before ICE Shooting, Immigration Agents Repeatedly Used Deadly Force

Filed
9:40 p.m. EST

01.07.2026

The killing of a Minneapolis lady is newest by ICE and Border Patrol officers in latest months. Others have been wounded or threatened with weapons.

When an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday, it was not the primary time that federal officers have killed civilians because the Trump administration launched its aggressive immigration enforcement marketing campaign.

Federal officers have fatally shot not less than three different individuals within the final 5 months, in keeping with information studies reviewed by The Marshall Venture. In September, Silverio Villegas González, a father initially from Mexico who labored as a prepare dinner, was killed whereas reportedly attempting to flee from officers in a Chicago suburb, WBEZ reported. In December, a border patrol agent killed a 31-year-old Mexican citizen whereas attempting to detain him in Rio Grande Metropolis, Texas. And on New 12 months’s Eve, an off-duty ICE agent used his service weapon to shoot a person in Los Angeles, California, in keeping with CBS Information. Authorities mentioned the person had raised a rifle on the officer.

Brokers have additionally shot different individuals. The Hint, the nonprofit information group masking gun violence, has counted greater than a dozen such shootings. In some circumstances, the victims survived, together with a lady who suffered a number of bullet wounds in an incident in Chicago in October. The Border Patrol officer who shot her appeared to brag about it in a textual content message, later offered in court docket proof. The message reportedly learn, “I fired 5 rounds, and he or she had 7 holes. Put that in your e-book boys.” That capturing occurred as a part of Operation Halfway Blitz, an immigration enforcement marketing campaign through which federal brokers fanned throughout Chicago, much like what they’re doing in Minneapolis now. The administration has additionally performed large-scale blitzes in Los Angeles, Portland and New Orleans.

In line with The New York Instances, within the final 4 months federal officers have fired on not less than 9 individuals whereas they had been of their automobiles, like Good. In these circumstances, authorities mentioned the drivers had been making an attempt to make use of the automobiles to strike an officer. In Wednesday’s capturing, Division of Homeland Safety officers mentioned Good had tried to run over officers in “an act of home terrorism.” Minneapolis’s Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz shortly disputed the federal description of the incident after they mentioned they’d considered a video of the capturing.

Along with shootings, federal immigration officers have pointed their weapons at activists and bystanders. Illinois State Rep. Hoan Huynh mentioned brokers blocked his automobile and pointed a gun at him whereas he was attempting to alert group members in regards to the presence of immigration officers and inform them of their rights, in keeping with the Chicago Solar-Instances.

A pregnant Illinois lady instructed Newsweek she thought her life was about to finish when a federal agent pointed his gun by way of her automobile window, after she honked her horn to alert individuals ICE was close by.

In one other incident in Chicago, a fight veteran alleged in a court docket submitting {that a} federal officer mentioned “bang, bang” and “you’re useless, liberal” whereas pointing a handgun at him.

The Division of Homeland Safety has routinely defended the shootings as crucial to guard officer security. Nonetheless, video and witnesses have disputed their accounts in lots of circumstances. After federal immigration brokers fatally shot González — the prepare dinner in Chicago — throughout a visitors cease, Homeland Safety claimed an officer was significantly injured. Physique-camera video, nonetheless, captured the agent saying it was “nothing main,” in keeping with footage obtained by the Chicago Solar-Instances.

A lawyer for Marimar Martinez, the lady shot 5 occasions in Chicago, mentioned body-cam video contradicts the federal government’s account that she drove in the direction of officers earlier than they shot her, in keeping with the Chicago Solar-Instances. Assault costs in opposition to Martinez had been dropped. A decide has ordered that the video be withheld from public launch.

After reviewing a video of Wednesday’s capturing in Minneapolis that he mentioned appeared to contradict federal officers’ accounts that the driving force was making an attempt to run them over after they shot her, Walz posted on social media, “Don’t consider this propaganda machine.”

An earlier model of this story omitted Marimar Martinez’s first title.