Cracks are forming within Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security following her response to an ICE agent killing an unarmed mom in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
According to CNN, multiple current and former DHS officials expressed privately that they were shocked by the Homeland Security Secretary’s near-immediate defense of an officer’s shooting and killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, whom Noem and DHS labeled a “domestic terrorist.”
The outlet reported that DHS officials initially questioned the officer’s actions and emphasized the importance of investigating the incident to understand the events leading up to it.
One veteran ICE agent told CNN, “I don’t recognize my former agency. This is truly heartbreaking.”
“Some agents get more extensive medical training, but for the average ERO agent it’s very limited,” former acting director of the agency, John Sandweg, said, referring to the delay between the shooting and when officers approached to provide aid. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit oversees deportation officers.
“These shootings are also rare,” he added. “This is not something they have experience with.”
Good, a mother of a now-orphaned six-year-old son, was shot three times by a federal officer on a residential Minneapolis street where ICE was operating.
Within hours of the shooting, DHS released a statement quickly defending the unnamed agent’s actions, condemning Good as a “violent rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle” against the officers surrounding her car.
“An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots,” the statement read. “He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers.”
“The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased,” it continued. “The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries.”
Multiple videos of the incident contradict the department’s claims, showing Good trying to leave the scene in her car after gesturing to another vehicle to go before her.
An eyewitness, 39-year-old Emily Heller, said that Good was “obviously scared” and was trying to leave the scene.
“The ICE agents got out of their vehicles and were screaming at her to ‘move, move, move,’” Heller told HuffPost. “She wasn’t moving at first, and then they came over to her side of the car and tried to open the door, I assume to drag her out.”
“She reversed a little bit and then started to move forward. And as she was starting to move forward, one of the ICE agents stood in front of her car, leaned across her hood and then fired three or four shots right into, it seemed like, her face.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, initially expressed uncertainty over the situation, saying to “let the investigation play out,” before backtracking on his own advice and defending the officer’s decision.
“The incident in Minneapolis today is yet another tragic example of the results of the hateful rhetoric and violent attacks against the men and women of ICE and BP,” Homan wrote on X. “These brave men and women are forced to conduct law enforcement operations in heightened threat environments every day. Like all Americans, our officers have a right to self defense.”
Noem doubled down on her department’s defense of the incident, despite video evidence presenting the contrary.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Noem continued to say that Good used her vehicle “as a weapon” against the ICE agents surrounding her. She added that the officer who fired the shots was “experienced” and “served a number of years,” but did not provide any additional information.
“The officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy,” Noem said. “[The vehicle] was used to perpetuate a violent act, that this officer took action to protect himself and to protect his fellow law enforcement officers.”
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