US Politics
Minneapolis mayor tears into Trump administration’s ‘garbage narrative’ after ICE agent shoots woman dead
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a scathing denunciation of the Trump administration and called for federal agents to “get the f*** out” of the city on Wednesday, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman who was blocking law enforcement in her vehicle.
“We do not want you here,” Frey said during a Wednesday news conference.
Federal officials have accused the woman of being a “rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them,” something Frey said was “bulls***” and a “garbage narrative,” based on video he had seen of the incident. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also described her actions as “an act of domestic terrorism.”
“This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed,” Frey continued.
Later Wednesday, the woman was identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.
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Frey pushed back against the Trump administration’s claims that Good’s actions were “an act of domestic terrorism” during an appearance on CNN Wednesday evening.
“I saw the same videos you saw, and the notion that this is domestic terrorism on the form of the victim, yeah, it’s positively ridiculous,” said Frey.
Frey also repeated his call for ICE officials to leave the city.
“My message to ICE, pure and simple, is to leave. My message to our community is that this is our moment to stand up and do the right thing,” he told CNN.
Unverified videos of the incident, posted online, appeared to show Good struggling to navigate her vehicle slowly as law enforcement agents surrounded her. As she tried to move and drive away, the officer fired several shots. The car then sped away and crashed into a telephone pole.
Good was shot in the head during the incident and was later pronounced dead at an area hospital, according to Minneapolis police.
The mayor called on community members to remain peaceful, warning that the white House would use any violence from protesters to justify more military-style force in the city, where the Trump administration is already deploying around 2,000 agents in an immigration and anti-fraud crackdown. Minneapolis was previously home to widespread protests and instances of looting and rioting in 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd.
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“They are not here to cause safety in this city,” Frey said of the Trump administration immigration agents. “What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust.”
At the briefing, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said he was “very concerned” by the shooting and said “in any professional law enforcement agency in the country,” officers are “intensely” trained to avoid situations where they would need to use deadly force on unarmed civilians, as appeared to be the case with the Wednesday shooting.
The FBI and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will investigate the shooting, which occurred during a protest of immigration operations around 34th Street and Portland Avenue.
The Trump administration has been surging immigration agents to the Minneapolis area since late last year. The White House ramped up operations in recent days after a viral video claimed Minneapolis day care centers were defrauding the federal government.
The crackdown follows President Trump’s frequent derogatory comments about the substantial Somali population in the Twin Cities, whom the president has called “garbage.”
