US Politics
ICE shooting updates: Vance says agent who killed woman may be ‘sensitive’ after he was injured in June incident
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Vice President JD Vance has defended Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis this week, after it emerged he had previously been hit by a car in a separate incident last June.
“You think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?” Vance said after defending immigration forces and lambasting the media for its coverage of Good’s death.
Protests erupted against ICE in several cities on Thursday evening, including Austin, Boston, Cincinatti, Dallas, and New York, as demonstrators gathered to express their outrage after Good, a poet and mother-of-three, was shot dead behind the wheel of her car during an altercation with agents.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced beforehand that he is authorizing the Minnesota National Guard to be “staged and ready” to support local law enforcement if necessary.
A feud is also brewing over who will investigate the shooting after state officials said they have been frozen out of the investigation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed local authorities have “no jurisdiction” in the matter.
Elsewhere, Border Patrol agents shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, Thursday afternoon during a vehicle stop, further heightening tensions.
‘Fifty percent of the shootings this year in Minneapolis have been ICE,’ says Frey
Mayor Jacob Frey said just now that the killing of Renee Good was the city’s second gun death of the year, meaning the federal immigration crackdown has inadvertently doubled the number of fatalities.
The mayor has since been joined by state lawmakers who are making emotional appeals for justice on behalf of the slain mother-of-three.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 15:15
Live: Minneapolis mayor delivers news conference at City Hall
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 15:10
Acting ICE director says trying to ‘escape law enforcement custody’ in a car is a ‘deadly force situation’ and ‘domestic terrorism’
Todd Lyons offered this highly contentious take on this week’s tragedy in conversation with Rob Schmitt on Newsmax.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 15:05
Protest group backed by ACLU suing ICE for violating constitutional rights
A group of protesters backed by the American Civil Liberties Union who are suing after ICE allegedly violated their constitutional rights are now asking a judge to intervene after the killing of Renee Good.
Federal authorities told the court this week that there was “no threat of immediate and irreparable harm,” but “the government’s claims were not true,” plaintiffs wrote last night.
That same day, reports emerged that the government was deploying 2,000 more agents to Minnesota, they noted.
Two days after that, an ICE officer fatally shot Good, they wrote.
“Thousands of peaceful observers and protesters turned out in the streets of the Twin Cities in the wake of Ms Good’s murder,” plaintiffs wrote.
“Peaceful observers and protesters turned out again today, they will turn out again tomorrow, and they will continue turning out every day until Operation Metro Surge is over.
“These Minnesotans who are peacefully exercising their core constitutional rights to speak and gather continue to be met with unconstitutional and terrifying violence at the hands of federal agents on a daily basis, including unwarranted pepper spraying and unfounded arrests.”
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 14:50
Father of ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good breaks silence over killing
The father of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minnesota, has come forward to defend his son’s actions and believes he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
“He will not be charged with anything,” Ed Ross, 80, told The Daily Mail, describing his son as a “tremendous” person of whom he is deeply proud.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 14:35
‘Extremely caring, a soft and beautiful spirit’
That’s how Renee Nicole Good has been described by Becca Hainsworth, a friend since they were teenagers, who has been talking to the BBC about their time together working on Christian youth missions 20 years ago in County Down and Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Hainsworth said Good, then known as Renee Ganger, had been “like an older sister to me” during their time in the country in 2005 and 2006.
“When I was getting homesick, she’d sing to me. She had a voice of an angel. She’d bring me cups of tea. She had a nurturing, beautiful soul.”
Hainsworth described this week’s news as “soul-crushing.”
The BBC also spoke to Paul Bowman, from Saintfield, with whom Good stayed during her trip, who said his “heart is heavy.”
“It’s just really surreal watching these horrific events and knowing that it is someone you shared life with. Someone who people have friendships with and care about,” Bowman said.
“This is a girl who I played music with, she played with my kids. She was very much a big part of my family during her time in Northern Ireland.”
Speaking on Radio Ulster’s Talkback program, Bowman said he was in “shock and disbelief” about her faith.
“The person portrayed in the media is not the person we knew. It’s important we don’t lose sight that this was a human life.”
Rev. James Hyndman, who was the minister at First Saintfield during Good’s stay, described her death as “an absolute tragedy”.
Rev. Hyndman called her “gentle-natured and warm. A loving type of person. She was a lovely, lovely girl.”
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 14:20
Voices: ‘ICE killing takes America a step closer to George Orwell’s nightmare’
The Trump administration’s reaction to the fatal shooting of Renee Good is another dark chapter in its rewriting of history – and has disturbing echoes of the dystopian world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, writes Sean O’Grady.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 14:00
Kristi Noem insists ICE was ‘surrounded and assaulted’ before fatal shooting. Video and witnesses don’t back that up
Alex Woodward takes a closer look at the claims made by the Department of Homeland Security this week in defense of ICE’s actions in Minneapolis to assess whether they stand up to scrutiny.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 13:40
Watch: Protesters take to the streets in Ohio, D.C. and Texas
Here’s more from yesterday’s public demonstrations against ICE, where some called for the federal immigration agency to be defunded.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 13:20
Renee Good’s award-winning poem ended on a poignant note
The woman shot dead in Minneapolis Wednesday was a poet who studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia.
Her award-winning 2020 work, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” explores grand themes including love, science and religion, reports Harry Cockburn.
Joe Sommerlad9 January 2026 13:00