Tag Archives: Renee Good

A Suggestion for the Governor of Minnesota

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An army of 3,000 federal “troops” under the command of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the President of the United States has entered your state, uninvited and allegedly for the purpose of removing persons whose presence in the United States is unlawful. These men typically wear masks to obscure their identity, are heavily armed and wear substantial protective gear. The labels on their uniforms typically say “ICE” and “Police.”

In the past few weeks these men have indiscriminately arrested and detained without explanation persons who were American citizens. They have violently entered homes and businesses to arrest individuals suspected, for unknown reasons, of unlawful presence in the country based on physical appearance and/or use of language. Their entries into homes and businesses typically are not based on judicially approved warrants authorizing searches of private property. Their leadership has asserted that they can, in effect, self-warrant, notwithstanding the clear language of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The inevitable result of these practices and the hostility of the people of Minnesota to them has been three shootings of Minneapolis residents, two of whom died. One was shot at least three times for the apparent offense of driving away after having been ordered to “get out of the f*cking car.” The other, a nurse, was shot at least seven times after being pepper sprayed and taken to the ground by a group of ICE agents, for the apparent offense of trying to protect a woman who was being assaulted by those ICE agents.

In both cases, as you are aware, the ICE leadership, including the President, have without the benefit of any forensic analysis immediately and publicly declared that these two people were terrorists intent upon doing serious bodily harm to the ICE agents on the scene. They have no evidence to support these claims. If they had to make those claims under oath, they would be guilty of perjury.

These tragedies are only the beginning. ICE believes it has full authority to do whatever it wants whenever it wants. ICE will clearly not abide any form of resistance to its demands, with the result that not only has it murdered two residents of Minneapolis, but it has harassed, arrested, detained, and almost certainly deported US citizens. It has violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution countless times. The lives of more Minneapolis residents are at serious risk.

Many words about these practices have been uttered by members of Congress and by you and other local authorities. None of them have changed anything. Nor will they. Unfortunately, more forceful action is required to bring an end to the unlawful occupation of the state by a federal force. Here is my suggestion.

First, you declare a state of emergency covering the entire state, based on the presence of an uninvited military force operating with the apparent approval and direct command of the Department of Homeland Security which force has murdered two Minnesota citizens and violated the U.S. Constitution in its dealings with those and other citizens of the city and state.

I understand you have activated the state National Guard under your direct command although its precise role is somewhat unclear. My proposal to you eliminates any ambiguities.

The declaration of emergency must order the ICE force to depart the state within some very brief period measured in hours rather than days, failing which they will be subject to arrest by the National Guard and such local law enforcement forces as are available to assist.

Given the state law on carrying arms, deputize as necessary any private citizens willing to serve and assist in the state’s effort to restore order and protect its citizens from unlawful detention by ICE.

Using the proper state procedures, you should initiate such legal processes as are appropriate to charge the ICE members who participated in the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti with murder in the first degree. Those same charges should be brought against the Secretary of Homeland Security and all other federal persons with line responsibility for the conduct of ICE personnel in Minnesota. I am fully aware of asserted limitations on the ability of the state to charge federal personnel with local crimes. Let the courts sort that out.

You and your advisors can work out the details of these recommendations to assure, to the maximum extent possible, that as little violence results as possible. It is, however, critically important that the state assert itself and bring to a prompt end the occupation of the state by an uninvited and out-of-control federal force that is willfully ignoring the Constitution and state and federal law, even to the extent of murdering state citizens.

I understand that one objection to my proposal will be the claim that the President will use the state’s resistance as a justification for invoking the Insurrection Act. If so, so be it. The use of ICE to deprive U.S. citizens of their rights cannot be allowed to continue. The President clearly does not believe he is bound by the Constitution. He has explicitly said so. Given the conduct of ICE in Minneapolis, it is time, indeed past time, to call the question and find out whether we will continue to have a democratic government or whether Trump and his Republican cronies will not run the country as the dictatorship he has promised.

 

Government Sanctioned Murder in Minneapolis

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I have written on a couple of other occasions about government use of deadly force against citizens. See, e.g., Kenosha – The Shooting of Jacob Blake https://shiningseausa.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1652&action=edit and When Do We Take a Stand? – Injustice in Georgia https://shiningseausa.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1517&action=edit

The specific situation in Minneapolis lacks the racial component of the other cases I have addressed but is no less troubling. Many words, including grotesque lies by the President and the head of Homeland Security, have already been devoted to trying to justify his actions as “self-defense.” I have looked at most, if not all, the videos of the events leading up to and the actual shooting, so I will not repeat the arguments on either side of those.

I am disturbed by aspects of the situation that have received little or no attention in the media or the hysterics about the “threat” to the ICE agent. Ultimately, despite the government’s efforts to tilt the story in favor of their agent, the truth will almost certainly come out. Sadly, getting there will exact a further emotional and financial price from the people who should not have to pay more than they already have.

My perspective:

I have no idea what was in the mind of Renee Good and her wife when Good parked her car across the path of travel on the street in Minneapolis. Some accounts indicate they were “heckling” the ICE agents. Others emphasize that Good was waiving other vehicles to pass by and that there was ample room to do so. ICE agent Ross’s own video, curiously using his personal cell phone, indicates Good was not engaged in a threatening move against ICE or trying to impede whatever work they were performing there.

That was true at least until ICE agents approached her vehicle and screamed at her: “get out of the f*cking car!” At that point it is reasonable to suppose that Good’s relatively relaxed demeanor would have changed. She would, reasonably, have felt threatened by the masked, armed men trying to force their way into her car. She may or may not have noticed that the ICE officer filming her while circling her car had arrived in front of the vehicle. Her wife was yelling for her to “drive, drive.” She reversed briefly, then turned the wheel to the right to enter the proper direction of travel on the one-way street.

Whether ICE agent Ross’s presence in front of her registered in Good’s mind will never be known.  But what can be known is whether attempting to drive away after suddenly being told in an angry and threatening voice, “get out of the f*cking car!” (while another masked/armed agent tried to force his way into her car) constituted a crime punishable by death. I have seen some attempts to make that case, but they all fail miserably on both the facts and the law.

It is entirely reasonable to believe that the sudden change in circumstances led to a degree of panic. Ms. Good’s worse crimes were, (1) failure to obey an ICE agent’s order to open her door and step out of the car, an order delivered in an angry and threatening tone; she likely had seen what has happened to many other people who obeyed angry orders to “get out of the f*cking car; and (2) attempting to escape a lawful arrest (although no ICE agent ever said “you are under arrest” and based on events leading up to that moment, her self-assessment of the situation could well have been, “they’re just after me for blocking traffic; I’ll just leave”).

So, she tries to drive away. Agent Ross has positioned himself off her left front and has, apparently anticipating that she is not going to get out of the car, switches his cell phone to his left hand and draws his Glock 9 mm pistol, firing three shots, one through the front window and two through the still-open driver side window. At the range involved, Ross can only intend and expect that his firing will result in mortal wounds to Renee Good.

A physician offers to provide aid to her and is rejected in favor of ICE medics who don’t arrive for several more critical minutes. Would the immediate medical help have saved her? We will never know.

And what of ICE agent Ross? Was he struck by Good’s car? Opinions differ. My assessment is that he managed to avoid meaningful contact with Good’s left front fender. The government says otherwise. It claims Ross, despite his being heavily protected by vests and other items, suffered internal bleeding requiring medical treatment in a hospital, though no corroborating records have been released.

What I know is this: in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Ross was filmed walking briskly and unaided, and in no apparent distress, up the street. Someone off camera apparently said or shouted something at him, and he waived them off with his right hand, then adjusted his mask as he continued up the street. The video has apparently been taken down.

Given the government’s rush to vindicate Ross and make him the victim in this situation, the video of his walk back from Good’s car suggests, though it does not prove, that the government’s claim that he shot Good in self-defense is a false claim. His demeanor walking away from Good’s car is that of someone fully satisfied with himself and his conduct.

Obviously, much process and evidence is yet to be developed before final conclusions can be drawn. One thing seems clear, though: the manner in which ICE officers conduct themselves is almost certain to lead to more unnecessary deaths. I believe that what happened to Renee Good in Minneapolis was unnecessary and entirely avoidable if the ICE agents on the scene had behaved responsibly. The last update to the use of force policy at DHS/ICE was promulgated in 2023 and as best I can tell, it still governs the use of force by ICE officers. If so, Officer Ross violated that policy in multiple ways that led to the unnecessary death of Renee Good. Right now, her killing surely looks like murder.