menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

ICE’s Murder of Renee Nicole Good Was Not an Aberration — It Is the New Normal

3 114
saturday

Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.

The killing of Renee Nicole Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in an otherwise quiet South Minneapolis neighborhood on Wednesday was just the latest in a string of violent attacks on local residents by immigration officials.

“Immediately after, the same masked agents were faced with our grieving neighbors, rightfully demanding justice for a murder committed in our streets, and only continued to escalate,” said Minneapolis Council member Aisha Chughtai in a post after arriving at the scene on Thursday. “They shoved people to the ground, drove recklessly into crowds and deployed chemical irritants.”

The shooting follows a clear pattern of violence in cities with Democratic Party mayors across the country: Immigration police enter neighborhoods to aggressively arrest people off the street, including many U.S. citizens, and clash with concerned residents and local activists, then blame the victims when people get hurt or killed.

ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three fatal shots into Good’s Honda Pilot as she turned and drove past him. Just before that moment, another masked federal officer had aggressively tried to drag Good from the car. At the time, Ross’s killing of Good was the ninth reported time an immigration agent had shot an unarmed civilian inside of their vehicle in the past four months, according to The New York Times. In each case, immigration officials claimed to shoot in self-defense and cited their fear of being hit by the vehicles.

Yet another shooting of a civilian by a U.S. immigration agent occurred one day later in Portland, Oregon, where the U.S. Border Patrol shot two people during a traffic stop on Thursday. Both people were hospitalized by local first responders and subsequently identified by federal authorities. As of Friday afternoon, their conditions haven’t been disclosed. Echoing the killing in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims the driver attempted to ram the officer with his vehicle.

“We know what the federal government says happened here,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson told reporters on Thursday. “There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has long passed.”

Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Oregon) said President Donald Trump’s immigration agents are engaged in “state-sponsored terrorism.”........

© Truthout