One day after an ICE agent fatally shot a Minneapolis mother, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem traveled to New York for a press conference where she doubled down on her defense of the officer and condemned New York City politicians who “perpetuate violence.”
The comments came roughly 24 hours after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, an award-winning poet and a U.S. citizen, inside her vehicle. Her killing occurred amid a citywide immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, sparking outrage and protest across the country.
In New York, both protesters and politicians called for accountability following her death, and many took to the streets on both Wednesday night and Thursday morning in response to the shooting.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that the incident was “only the latest in a year full of cruelty.”
“As ICE attacks our neighbors across America, it is an attack on us all. New York stands with immigrants today, and every day that follows,” Mamdani posted on X.
During a press conference at One World Trade Center to announce arrests related to the July shooting of a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent, Noem condemned statements by Mamdani and other city officials such as Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Willams said the administration is trying to “normalize the devil’s work” at a protest that drew hundreds to Foley Square Wednesday evening.
“That kind of language and that kind of provocative talk inciting people to take action and perpetuate violence in some cases is unacceptable, especially of elected leaders,” Noem said.
Williams expressed outrage about Noem’s comments in a statement to Documented.
“The day after Secretary Noem’s militia murdered an American citizen, she dared to come lecture our city about public safety and criticize our response to the atrocities of her administration,” he said.
In the wake of Good’s death, the federal government has asserted that the ICE agent, identified on Thursday as Jonathan Ross, shot the mother of three in self-defense, but multiple bystander videos of the incident circulating on social media appear to contradict the official narrative.
Noem said on Thursday that Good and others were harassing officers before she was shot. Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told NPR that Good was “a compassionate neighbor trying to be a legal observer on behalf of her immigrant neighbors.”
Videos posted on social media show one officer approaching a vehicle in the middle of a street, asking the driver to open the door and grabbing its handle. The SUV starts moving forward and to the right, as another officer approaches the front of the vehicle, pulls his weapon and fires at least two shots into it.
A video analysis by the Washington Post also found that the SUV did move toward the agent but that he was able to move out of the way, raising questions about the administration’s claims.
Bystanders, meanwhile, have reported that Good was given conflicting information on whether to stay or go, but it appeared she was trying to leave the scene, reported local radio station MPR News.
Noem said in an address on Wednesday that Good “attacked” the agents and was attempting to “run them over.”
“It was an act of domestic terrorism,” Noem said, a sentiment reiterated on Thursday. “An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him.”
Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, have disputed the federal government’s self-defense narrative.
“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly — that is bull—-,” said Frey at a press conference on Wednesday. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.” Frey then levelled at ICE: “Get the f— out of Minneapolis.”
Noem was in New York to announce arrests tied to the July shooting of an off-duty CBP agent in an apparent botched robbery. The alleged shooter and an accomplice were immigrants. Officials said Thursday that law enforcement has arrested more than 50 other people loosely tied to the two men charged.
At the event, where she celebrated the heroism of law enforcement, Noem criticized Mamdani for supporting immigrant New Yorkers, saying that he should “protect the people who live here that had the opportunity to vote for him.”
She called for further cooperation from Mamdani and the New York Police Department, before New York ICE director Ken Genalo addressed the crowd and called sanctuary city policies unsafe.
In January, New York City’s crime rates continued a steep drop, with murders falling to the lowest level since 1994, according to reporting by the New York Times.
“We’re hoping the mayor will work with us to get these criminal elements, and especially gang members and terrorist organizations, out of New York City,” Noem told the room of reporters — noting what she called a “productive conversation” between the president and mayor.
“Our communication at the Department of Homeland Security has not been productive with the mayor’s office or with NYPD, but we want to continue those conversations so we can work together.”
In the day since the shooting, public outcry for justice and accountability has only grown. Nationwide protests have broken out in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, where over 2,000 federal agents have been deployed in the Trump administration’s “largest immigration operation ever.”
On Thursday morning, protesters marched from Foley Square to picket outside Noem’s visit, chanting “ICE off our streets now!” The group had responded to calls on social media to protest the presence of the DHS director in New York.
The night before, hundreds of New Yorkers along with prominent City Council members and Public Advocate Williams, also gathered in the cold to protest Good’s killing, according to CBS News.
“I join people all around the country condemning ICE raids in communities and demanding justice for the victim in the shooting earlier today,” Karla Reyes, a 36-year-old Harlemite, told Documented at Wednesday’s protest.
Wednesday’s shooting was the ninth time ICE has shot someone since September, the New York Times reports, with each incident happening while the victim was inside a car. According to data from The Trace, ICE has carried out 14 shootings amid Trump’s immigration crackdown, four of which were fatal — a number that the news site says is likely an undercount due to lack of public reporting on incidents.
The Marshall Project reports that federal immigration agents have been responsible for at least three fatal shootings in the past five months. On New Year’s Eve, an off-duty ICE officer shot and killed a man in Los Angeles, claiming he was an “active shooter.” Earlier in December, a CBP officer killed a 31-year-old Mexican national allegedly attempting to evade detention in Starr County, Texas. In September, ICE shot and killed Silverio Villegas González, a father and cook originally from Mexico, while allegedly trying to evade detention in a Chicago suburb.
ICE agents rarely face repercussions for use-of force — they are generally immune from state prosecution while carrying out their official duties. Incidents can be subject to the agency’s internal review processes, which also rarely result in discipline or prosecution. The bar for federal prosecution is also very high. In a six-year analysis of ICE shootings, covering 59 incidents, Type Investigations found no evidence that any agent was indicted. Twenty-three of those shootings were fatal.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) announced in a press release on Thursday that the FBI is taking over the investigation, with the FBI blocking BCA’s access to evidence.
“Without complete access to the evidence, witnesses and information collected, we cannot meet the investigative standards that Minnesota law and the public demands,” the agency said. “As a result, the BCA has reluctantly withdrawn from the investigation.”
Meanwhile, Illinois Rep. Robin Kelly filed articles of impeachment against Noem hours after her Wednesday remarks, and Democratic lawmakers, including leaders in New York like House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, have called for a criminal probe into the Minneapolis shooting.
“There needs to be a full investigation at the federal level, though I have little faith in the FBI in doing a fair investigation,” Schumer said, according to an NPR report.
In response to reporters asking when a immigration enforcement surge in New York City may come, Noem said she would never “telegraph” operations.
Nevertheless, another show of force by those against such an incursion kicked off in Foley Square at 5:30 p.m.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
Natalia Aristizabal, Deputy Director of Make the Road and speaker at Wednesday’s protest, slammed ICE’s “unchecked violence.”
“Every New Yorker, regardless of immigration status, should feel safe to drop off their children at school, go to the pharmacy to get their medicine, and know they will be able to return home safely,” she said.
Additional reporting provided by Jonathan Fernandes.
