MINNEAPOLIS — The family of Renee Good, one of two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January, sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday, saying there had been “no accountability” for her killing during deportation sweeps, according to multiple reports.
Good, 37, was shot dead in her car by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on January 7, when she and her wife joined one of the city’s daily protests against masked and armed federal agents deployed to Minnesota to arrest migrants for deportation. The two lawsuits name the ICE officer who fired the fatal shot, Jonathan Ross, and several high-ranking officials, including Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, alleging a “conspiracy to interfere with civil rights,” unconstitutional negligence and excessive force. The family is demanding a jury trial and damages.
“What happened to Renee was completely senseless and the fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind-blowing,” Brett Ganger, Good’s brother, said at a press conference in Minneapolis. “What happened to America? Something must change now.”
“I’m here today because last January the whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed,” Good’s partner, Becca Good, said. The family’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, called the government “a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens.”
The administration has maintained that Ross fired in self-defense, and a White House spokeswoman, Lauren Bis, described the lawsuits as “baseless,” saying the government would “vigorously defend these civil lawsuits.” The Justice Department said in January that it saw no grounds for a federal civil rights investigation into Good’s death.
Good’s killing intensified the backlash against the sweeps, involving thousands of immigration agents deployed to street patrols in Minnesota in what the administration dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Two weeks after Good’s death, immigration agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, an American nurse working for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Trump ended the Minnesota surge in February. None of the agents involved has yet faced any charges.
