Congress Should Stop Homeland Security Funding While Investigations Proceed 

We mourn the needless death of Renee Nicole Good, fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

There have been at least nine other non-fatal shootings by ICE agents in places around the country. People are also dying in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at alarming rates, with 32 deaths in detention facilities in 2025, matching a previous high of more than 20 years ago. 

So it must be understood: Ms. Good’s death is part of a pattern of callous and inhumane disregard of life and law. Her death and the shockingly high number of deaths and harm inflicted in ICE detention and raids require Congress to stop negotiations on the Department of Homeland Security funding bill until careful investigations lead to Congress’ reining in the reckless tactics of Secretary Noem, ICE Acting Director Lyons, and underlings. 

Reckless disregard for human life is rampant in the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants and their neighbors and supporters. While a full investigation of Renee Good’s killing is necessary, it should be recognized that the Department of Justice’s 2022 Policy on the Use of Force clearly states that “Deadly force may not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect.” It is not at all clear that Ms. Good should have been suspected of anything, which makes the use of deadly force all the more reckless. Secretary Noem is claiming that the officer felt threatened and was hit by the vehicle. The video evidence requires full examination, but what the videos show should certainly have given the Secretary pause before she jumped to vilify Renee Good. President Trump made wilder claims, stating that Ms. Good’s vehicle “viciously ran over” the officer, when no look at the videos would support that. 

A witness on NBC News described a physician who tried to get to Ms. Good after her car crashed to check her pulse; he was not allowed to do so. Emergency medical vehicles could not get near for about 15 minutes because vehicles were blocking the street. The EMS workers “…were on foot when they got through, and they carried her body out, just like by her limbs, they didn’t even have a stretcher,” said the witness, Emily Heller, in the news account. “She was carried out like a sack of potatoes.” 

ICE officials and agents are bullies, just as the full Trump administration is. Immigrants are a vulnerable target, so ripe for victimization by bullies. ICE’s tactics are intended to maximize fear, and as they swagger to their next violent act, they think they can go ahead and get away with it. So far, Congress has gone along. The Big Brutal legislation that slashed health care and nutrition programs to pay for tax cuts for the rich also funded plans to construct new, massive detention facilities designed to hold tens of thousands of people at once. These warehouse-style immigration jails will be humanitarian catastrophes. ICE’s existing facilities already subject people to medical neglect, abuse, prolonged confinement, and life-threatening conditions – and those shocking 32 deaths in the past year. Expanding this infrastructure guarantees more suffering, more deaths, and deeper trauma for families and communities. 

Secretary Noem called the actions of Renee Good an “act of domestic terrorism.” Deflecting blame is what bullies do. But Dieu Do, a Minnesota immigrant rights activist, got it right in talking to NBC: “Domestic terrorism is what ICE is doing — using unmarked vehicles, unmarked clothing, coming in and taking our community members without any paperwork.” 

It is past time for Congress to assert itself, insist on the truth, and stop funding DHS and ICE’s inhumane and lethal tactics.