Minneapolis City Council Member Jamison Whiting, who assumed office earlier this week, told Newsweek in a Zoom interview, “we have had one homicide in the city of Minneapolis this year. And it was because of the federal administration,” in reference to the killing of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Wednesday.
According to Minneapolis police data, the city has reported no homicides in 2026, through January 7.
Newsweek has reached out to all Minneapolis City Council members, as well as the mayoral and governor’s offices for comment via email on Thursday.
Why It Matters
An ICE agent fatally shot Good on Wednesday while she was in her car in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has insisted that she was a threat to federal agents and that the agent fired in self-defense, while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other leading Democrats have sharply criticized ICE’s actions and said that video footage showed Good was only trying to leave the scene.
Local Democrats have repeated calls for ICE to leave the city, while pushing for a thorough investigation into the deadly shooting on a residential street in south Minneapolis, less than a mile from where police killed George Floyd in 2020.
What To Know
In the Zoom interview with Newsweek, Whiting, a Ward 11 City Council member and lifelong Minneapolis resident, said, “Minneapolis is a resilient place, but we’re tired. We’re tired of having to be resilient.”
Federal immigration agents have carried out stepped-up enforcement operations around the city for weeks, drawing protests and heightened tensions as the Justice Department also freezes resources to Minnesota over fraud allegations.
“If the federal administration did not deploy over 2,500 troops into the city of Minneapolis, Renee Good would still be alive today,” Whiting said, adding, “We are watching a deployment of destruction from a fascist federal administration that was walking down the middle of the street that many of us grew up on. Many of my colleagues grew up on. Watching them murder a mom, a wife, a Minneapolitan in the middle of our streets.”
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said Tuesday that the “largest DHS operation ever is happening right now in Minnesota.” It includes around 2,000 federal agents deployed in the state, according to the Associated Press.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that Good committed “an act of domestic terrorism,” claiming that her car was a threat to the officer.
Speaking at a news conference, Walz urged protesters to avoid lashing out and instead practice “peaceful civil disobedience.” He acknowledged the anger directed at law enforcement but stressed that agencies, including the Minneapolis Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and National Guard, are present “to protect Minnesotans.”
Council Member Pearll Warren said in an email to Newsweek, “Today, we also learned that the federal government has removed the Minnesota Bureau of Apprehension from the investigation. That decision is deeply disappointing. We are concerned that the investigation is proceeding without state partners, and we are calling for a clear and transparent process that includes state investigating agencies.”
What People Are Saying
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a previous statement to Newsweek: “This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement who are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats. This is an evolving situation, and we will give the public more information as soon as it becomes available.”
President Donald Trump, on Truth Social: “The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense. Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis. They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, while discussing Good on NPR’s Morning Edition: “She was a compassionate neighbor trying to be a legal observer on behalf of her immigrant neighbors. That’s what she was doing at the moment of her death. And she was a poet. She was a mom. She was a daughter. And I am deeply saddened by what happened to her and her family.”
Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey, during a news conference on Wednesday: “This was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”
Vice President JD Vance, in an X post Wednesday: “I want every ICE officer to know that their president, vice president, and the entire administration stands behind them. To the radicals assaulting them, doxxing them, and threatening them: congratulations, we’re going to work even harder to enforce the law.”
From a Wednesday joint statement by several Minneapolis City Council members, including Council President Elliott Payne (Ward 1), Vice President Jamal Osman (Ward 6), Council Members Robin Wonsley (Ward 2), LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4), Warren, Elizabeth Shaffer (Ward 7), Soren Stevenson (Ward 8), Jason Chavez (Ward 9), Aisha Chughtai (Ward 10), Whiting, Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12) and Linea Palmisano (Ward 13): “Anyone who kills someone in our city deserves to be arrested, investigated, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
What Happens Next
Federal and local agencies are likely to continue clashing over the investigation of Good’s death, with protests moving forward in Minneapolis and around the country.
Whiting said that officials are still working out the next legal steps in efforts to ensure “accountability and transparency” that Minnesotans deserve.
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