The mayor of Minneapolis contradicts the White House’s version of events and emphasizes that “the Trump administration’s agenda is to create chaos”
Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of several US cities to protest the death of a woman at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The incident has led to harsh accusations from local authorities against the agency and the White House itself, which has defended the agents’ actions.
The city of Minneapolis was the scene of a vigil in honor of the deceased, identified as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old widow with a six-year-old son. The gathering took place near the spot where she was shot by the agent while inside her vehicle during an operation.
“Say it once, say it twice. We will not accept ICE,” chanted those present, some of whom carried signs reading “Get the killer ICE off our streets,” a demand also firmly made by the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey.
Several speakers denounced the actions of the ICE agents, who have been heavily criticized by local and state authorities following an order from US President Donald Trump, and demanded that the agent responsible for the shooting be charged and prosecuted for Good’s death.
“We are not afraid of Donald Trump and we are not afraid to say ‘fuck ICE’,” said one of the speakers, after which the crowd chanted the victim’s name. Good had reportedly been deployed to the scene to monitor the agents’ actions amid criticism of unconstitutional and illegal conduct during their raids, according to CNN. The demonstrations have been replicated in other cities across the country, including Miami, to protest ICE abuses and the contradictions in the official version of events, something that has led former Vice President and former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to even state that “the Trump administration’s explanation of the shooting is pure gaslighting.”
“A state-level investigation is absolutely necessary,” Harris said on social media, where she denounced that “ICE agents shot and killed a woman in a shocking incident in Minneapolis,” while also applauding the announcement by Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, regarding the authorities’ efforts to “ensure a fair investigation.”
Hours earlier, the mayor of Minneapolis had demanded that the officers “get out” of the city, while stating that “they are not here to provide security” and questioning the version given by the White House and the government. “Having seen the video, I want to say that’s nonsense. This was an officer recklessly using power, which resulted in the death of a person,” he said at a press conference.
Frey was referring to the video posted on social media, which shows the woman trying to back up after several officers approach the vehicle and turning the steering wheel to move away from them and drive forward when one of them tries to forcibly open her door, at which point another officer fires several shots at her.
THE MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS ASKS PEOPLE “NOT TO TAKE THE BAIT”
“Collectively, we are going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of this, get justice, and make sure there is an investigation,” said Frey, who stressed that residents and local authorities “feared this moment from the early stages of ICE’s presence in Minneapolis.” “They are not here to provide security in the city. They are not providing security in the United States. They are causing chaos and distrust,” he denounced. “They are tearing families apart, they are sowing chaos in the streets, and in this case, literally killing people. They are already trying to present this as an act of self-defense,” he said, before stating that local security forces had to intervene after the incident to secure the scene and remove “dozens, if not hundreds, of ICE and federal agents” from the area.
In this regard, the mayor said that these forces “were only causing more chaos and turning a difficult situation into an even more problematic one, one that they themselves created.” “We don’t want you here. The stated purpose of your presence here is to provide security, and you are doing the exact opposite,” said Frey, who went on to assert that “the Trump administration’s agenda is to create chaos.”
“Let’s respond with the best version of ourselves,” he told the public, urging them to “rise to the occasion.” “We are better than a group of ICE agents deployed in cities across the country, tearing apart families and communities. We are going to confront that hatred with love; that despair with hope; that injustice with constitutional justice,” he argued, while urging them “not to take the bait.”
“To be clear, that’s what the federal government wants. It wants us to respond in a way that creates a military occupation in our city. It wants an excuse to come in and show force that will create more chaos and despair. Let’s not allow it,” the mayor of Minneapolis added, in a harsh verbal attack against the White House and its policy of militarizing several cities with the deployment of ICE and federal troops.
NOEM AND TRUMP DEFEND THE OFFICER
For her part, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged that Good’s death “was preventable,” although she defended the officers’ actions and attributed the incident to “a mob of agitators,” before claiming that the woman tried to run over the officers, in what she described as a case of “domestic terrorism,” even though this version has also been discredited by witnesses to the event.
“The officers approached the vehicle and repeatedly ordered her to get out of the car, which she refused to do,” Noem said at a press conference. She stated that the woman “turned her vehicle into a weapon and tried to run over an officer” and added that the officer “fired defensive shots.” “He used his training to save his life and the lives of his colleagues,” she emphasized, before assuring that he was taken to a hospital for treatment. This part of the account has also been discredited by witnesses and videos published after the incident, which show the officer in question walking away on his own after not being hit by the car and getting into a vehicle to leave the scene amidst shouts from some of those present, who were urging other officers to stop him so that he could be questioned and prosecuted.
Despite all this, Trump described the deceased as having “behaved very aggressively, obstructing and resisting.” “Then she violently, deliberately, and cruelly ran over an ICE agent, who appears to have fired in self-defense,” he maintained, before stating that it was “horrible” to see the video. “The entire situation is being analyzed,” he asserted, while attributing these events to the fact that “the radical left threatens, assaults, and attacks” law enforcement officers “daily.”
This incident further exacerbates tensions between federal and local authorities regarding these types of deployments, which so far have focused on cities controlled by Democrats and have led to accusations, in the case of ICE, of actions that could constitute violations of human rights and the U.S. Constitution itself, especially in the case of seemingly indiscriminate raids against people based on their appearance.
