“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, “1984”
Only hours after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minnesota, the Trump administration had launched into both a defense of the agent and attack on the wife and mother of three he shot in the face.
As awful as the killing is, it is the administration’s reaction that frightens me most.
Unlike other incidents, multiple cameras caught these events in real time. From multiple angles the awful moments can be replayed and analyzed. None seem to support the messaging coming out from the administration. An extensive New York Times review concluded that the ICE agent was “not in the path of the victim’s SUV when he fired.”
What our eyes and ears tell us seems clear. Good parked her Honda Pilot SUV perpendicular to the street to block it off. But when law enforcement vehicles approached, she initially attempted to move, but had been cut off by other cars pulling in front of her to get by. Next, two law enforcement officials aggressively approach her SUV employing expletives to order her out of the car — rather than trying to de-escalate or have a civil discussion, they actually made matters worse and likely frightened Good. One of those officers reached into her open window and tried to yank her door open.
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As that was happening, the ICE agent who would shoot her placed himself in front of the car, just in front of the driver’s side bumper.
Next, Good reversed. She did not just put the SUV in drive and attempt to strike the ICE agent. She was obviously trying to make room to leave. Next, she turned her wheel hard to the right before pulling forward. This was a key fact highlighted by The New York Times — Good was not trying to hit the agent, but trying to get around him to leave.
Even before Good had shifted from reverse to drive, the ICE agent began to reach for his weapon. Rather than attempting to sidestep the car or get out of its direction, he chose to unholster his gun. That process likely made it more difficult for him to move out of the way. Nonetheless, as The New York Times noted, he did not fire until he was already standing to the left of the vehicle as its front wheels were pointing right.
In other words, he was not in actual danger at the time he fired three shots into Good’s body.
And that is all before video recorded by the ICE agent was leaked to a conservative Minnesota website. In it, Good can be heard telling the officer: “That’s fine dude. I’m not mad at you.” Seconds after shooting her, the agent can be heard exclaiming “fucking bitch.”
The ICE agent then fled the scene before local law enforcement could arrive.
This is textbook abuse of power. In any other setting under any other administration, there would be a full investigation and the agent would be held accountable for his actions. Instead, the Trump administration seems to be setting up our country for more violence in the future.
By immediately defending the ICE agent’s actions, Trump and his cronies intend to send a clear message to their paramilitary force: Everything is on the table and we will back you no matter how violent you get, even if you kill a few Americans along the way.
It didn’t even take a day before ICE shot someone else, this time in Portland. Two people attempting to drive off — though, again, the ICE agents claim they tried to drive over them — were shot and hospitalized. And, again, the ICE agents responsible for shooting left the scene before local law enforcement could show up and investigate.
Because the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of (In)Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation refuse to cooperate with local law enforcement to investigate these shootings, they have effectively stopped prosecutions. They are effectively immune. At least for now. Remember, there is no statute of limitations on murder.
That leads to a chilling psychosis where agents begin to revel in the violence they can get away with. Last year after a woman collided with a Border Patrol car while warning people about their presence, the agent exited his car and shot her five times. He then bragged about it in text messages, “I fired 5 rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
Without accountability, and the belief that the Trump administration will condone anything they do, we are sure to see violent attacks by ICE and other federal agents increase in the second year of Trump’s term. There is little reason to believe that they will not be sent to cities to harass and harang communities and eventually engage in gross ethical violations. After seeing the response to Good being killed, many have to believe they are untouchable. And under Trump, they may well be.
That should terrify everyone.
Historically condoning that type of abuse does not end well for the citizenry. At some point, everyone becomes a target of the abuse and then the abuse becomes the system. That is antithetical to the founding principles of our country; a country ruled by fear is not a free country.
By all accounts, Good was a good person who grew up in Colorado, married a veteran, had kids, and then remarried after he died. Nobody who knew her has anything but kind words about her. She is the type of everyday American many of us see in the mirror.
Good’s killing, and the Trump administration’s reaction, may be the darkest day yet for America. But it assures us that it will not be the last. If anything, it means we are in for a very ugly, violent era that our country may not come out of in one piece.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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