Good's family released a statement through their attorney describing her as their "protector" and as a "beautiful light."
Demonstrators walk through tear gas after confronting federal law enforcement agents yesterday in Minneapolis. Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg via Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would cut off federal funding next month for any state that includes sanctuary cities, expanding his attacks on mostly Democratic-run cities following days of clashes in Minneapolis.
Trump’s vow, which he made on social media, repeated comments he first made during a speech in Detroit on Tuesday, when he said he would halt payments starting on February 1 to any state that had sanctuary cities, which limit local authorities’ cooperation with federal immigration officers.
Any such effort would undoubtedly be challenged in court. A federal judge in August blocked a previous attempt to freeze funding for more than 30 sanctuary jurisdictions unless they cooperated with his immigration crackdown.
Trump’s declaration came amid escalating tensions in Minneapolis, a week after a U.S. immigration officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in her car.
The family of slain motorist Renee Good hired civil rights attorney Antonio Romanucci, who said he’s dedicated to “fervently pursuing justice on behalf of” the woman fatally shot by an ICE officer last week.
“It is always challenging to pursue litigation against state and local law enforcement officers because of the many immunities they are afforded. But legal action against the federal government is even more complex,” according to a statement by Romanucci, who also represented loved ones of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020.
“This process will not deter us in any way from fervently pursuing justice on behalf of Renee Good.”
Renee Good’s family thanked the public for their support, remembering the 37-year-old mother of three as a “beautiful light” who “brought joy to anyone she met.”
“The kind of unending care we’ve been given during this time is exactly the kind that she gave to everyone,” her parents and four siblings said in a statement released Wednesday through their attorney.
“She was our best friend with a seemingly infinite capacity for love. Nae-Nae gave everything she had to take care of her friends and family, and indeed people she never met,” the statement read. “If there was any celebration for any one of us, Nae amplified it. If there was sorrow, she was with you for all of it. Nae found joy in others being comforted and was herself a fountain of comfort.”
Her family called her their “protector” and said “we feel her absence deeply as we struggle to compose this statement without her gentle guidance.”
Renee Good and her brother Brent Ganger. Courtesy Romanucci & Blandin
“Knowing we can’t match her eloquence, we are remembering Nae in all the little things she’d be doing for us today. She is in the tight hug we offer each other as we lean on the counter,” the family said. “She’s in the goofy cackles we elicit in each other as we recall sweet memories, and she’s in the tears we leave on each others’ shirts. She is in the flow state that comes when your spirit is creating something passionate to share with others. Her voice is the one singing the song stuck in your head. More than anything, she is there when your heart breaks and fills for another person.”
“When we remember Nae, we remember her abundant heart, and we will move forward imitating that unending care,” they concluded.
Joe Rogan compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “the Gestapo” in the latest episode of his popular podcast Tuesday, openly breaking with President Donald Trump on his administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
Rogan, one of the biggest podcasters in the world, had endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election just days after holding a three-hour interview with him on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” The show, which has consistently retained its No. 1 spot on the Spotify podcast charts, has more than 20.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
But on Tuesday, Rogan, who has been increasingly critical of Trump’s mass deportation agenda in recent months, expressed concern over ICE’s activities in an episode featuring Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. He said that “most people” believe law enforcement should arrest criminals, but that many of the same people also believe ICE is “operating illegally.”
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MINNEAPOLIS — A judge made no immediate decision Wednesday on Minnesota’s request to suspend the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the state, where federal agents have yanked people from cars and confronted angry bystanders demanding they pack up and leave.
Plumes of tear gas, the deployment of chemical irritants and the screech of protest whistles have become common on the streets of Minneapolis, especially since an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head on Jan. 7 as she drove away.
“What we need most of all right now is a pause. The temperature needs to be lowered,” state Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said during the first hearing in a lawsuit filed by Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez promised to keep the case “on the front burner” and gave the U.S. Justice Department until Monday to file a response to the request for a restraining order. Local leaders say the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with the surge of law enforcement.
Menendez said the state and cities will have a few more days to respond.
“It is simply recognition that these are grave and important matters,” the judge said of the timetable, noting there are few legal precedents to apply to some of the key points in the case.
Justice Department attorney Andrew Warden suggested the slower approach set by Menendez was appropriate.
The judge is also handling a separate lawsuit challenging the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal officers when encountering protesters and observers. A decision could be released this week.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down. The Pentagon is preparing to send military lawyers to Minneapolis to assist, CNN reported.
“What we see right now is discrimination taking place only on the basis of race: Are you Latino or are you Somali? And then it is indiscriminate thereafter,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told Fox News. “In other words, they are pulling people off the streets. They have pulled U.S. citizens off the streets and you don’t need to take my word for it at this point. This has been very well documented.”
The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota said four tribal members were detained while at a homeless camp in Minnesota last week. Three remained in custody late Tuesday.
“Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty,” said tribe President Frank Star Comes Out, who demanded their release.
It’s been a week since an ICE officer fatally shot motorist Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and the memorial to honor her at the scene of the slaying continues to grow.
Flowers, stuffed animals and protest signs continued to pile up and adorn the spot on Portland Avenue between East 33rd and 34th Streets where Good was slain by ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
A memorial for Renee Good in Minneapolis today. Kailani Koenig / NBC News
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he doesn’t want to eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but believes ICE agents should target states that have larger numbers of undocumented immigrants.
“This, however, is the largest immigration enforcement action on record in the United States,” he said in a Wednesday Fox News interview on “Fox & Friends.”
“Why is the largest scale immigration enforcement action taking place where we don’t even have that many undocumented immigrants? Why would it not take place in Texas or Florida or Utah where you do actually have those large numbers of undocumented immigrants,” he said.
The Mayor continued: “That is where it would make more sense. But again, if the issue is murder or crime, the answer is we do work with the federal government. In fact, we are presently doing that. So the truth is it is not about murder or crime.”
Frey went on to say that there is “discrimination taking place only on the basis of race” in his city.
“Are you Latino or are you Somali? And it is indiscriminate thereafter. They are pulling people off the streets. They have pulled U.S. citizens off the streets,” he said. “If this were about murder or rape or crime or fraud, then, look, we have worked together not just with the Biden administration, with the past Trump administration, with the Bush administration. We have worked with a number of administrations to successfully drive down crime. This is not about that.”
The Mayor, who called for ICE to “get the f— out” of Minneapolis following Renee Good’s death, said he wants there to be a “full and fair investigation” into what happened.
“I may have disagreements with some people that are part of your audience, but I hope that people can trust that I love my city,” he said. “We are experiencing an extraordinary comeback. Crime is down in virtually every category in virtually every neighborhood. Small businesses were opening. And this whole chaos that has taken place, yeah it is setting us back.”
After a video posted to social media showed ICE officers kneeling on the neck of a man whom they were arresting in Minneapolis, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said they were “forced” to make the arrest after the man impeded law enforcement.
The video shows ICE officers yanking a man from his car and dragging him to the ground, while he is kicking his legs in an attempt to wrestle free. Three officers were attempting to handcuff the man, with one officer holding his arms around the man’s neck while two others tried to pin him to the ground.
The officer around the man’s neck then moves his hands to assist the other two officers in handcuffing the man, and replaces his hands with his knee on the man’s head and neck.
DHS said the incident, which took place on Jan. 7, occurred after officers were responding to a distress call from colleagues at the scene who requested backup “because they were being attacked by agitators.” The spokesperson said that amid the chaos, an officer who “feared for his life” fired his weapon in defense.
When officers arrived, “hundreds of violent rioters swarmed them, assaulted them, and blocked their path,” DHS said. It added that officers gave commands to the “violent agitator who was obstructing law enforcement” to move out of the way, but he refused and DHS said he “clearly resisted arrest.”
DHS said officers were “forced to arrest him for impeding law enforcement,” and that officers used the “minimum amount of force necessary to gain control of the violent agitator.”
The spokesperson pointed out that the social media video is slowed down at the point at which the office places his knee on the man’s neck. DHS said it was actually “a split second during a violent struggle.”
The Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota demanded the release of three tribal members who were allegedly taken into custody from a homeless encampment last week by ICE agents agents in Minnesota.
Those captured are “tribal citizens” and “are not aliens,” according to a tribe statement. The members being held are categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,” the tribe said.
“This is not a misunderstanding or an enforcement discretion issue,” tribal President Frank Star Comes Out said. “This is a treaty violation. Treaties are not optional. Sovereignty is not conditional. Our citizens are not negotiable.”
Representatives for ICE, DHS and the Bureau of Indian Affairs could not be immediately reached for comment today.
Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News last night that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey — both strident critics of the federal operation — were guilty of terrorism and of inciting violence.
“You can use the term insurgency, you can use the term insurrection, you can use the term domestic terrorism,” Miller said, without outlining how either man has incited violence in the state.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who along with city and state authorities was shut out of the FBI’s investigation of Renee Good’s death, said she still hopes to collect enough evidence herself to make her own decision on bringing criminal charges against ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
Whether she manages to do that remains to be seen. Without cooperation from the FBI — which has Ross’ gun, shell casings and Good’s car — Moriarty said she will rely on an online portal she announced last week for the public to submit evidence, and whatever the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shares from the material it collected at the scene before it was booted from the case.
Moriarty, a former public defender who is in the last year of her four-year term as prosecutor and is not running for re-election, said in an interview that she has the legal authority to prosecute a federal officer. No matter where the evidence takes her, her goal is to add transparency to the case, she said. “We want community members to feel as though there is documentation and perhaps accountability,” Moriarty said.
The federal investigation has already turned divisive, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying in a statement yesterday there was “currently no basis” for the criminal section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate Ross. Several prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota have resigned over their concerns with the direction of the investigation. At least some felt pressure to examine any ties to activist groups by Good and her widow, a law enforcement official with knowledge of their decisions told NBC News. The official said the prosecutors were also concerned about cutting out state and local authorities.
Moriarty said she has also asked police in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs for evidence of other types of serious crimes allegedly committed by federal agents.
Six people have resigned from the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office over their concerns with the direction of the investigation into Renee Good’s death, a source familiar with the resignations told NBC News.
A man visits a makeshift memorial for Renee Good today at the site where she was killed. Stephen Maturen / Getty Images
At least three prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota have resigned over their concerns with the direction of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a person familiar with the resignations told NBC News yesterday.
The person confirmed the resignations of Joseph Thompson, Melinda Williams and another attorney. The two named attorneys, Thompson and Williams, did not immediately respond to messages from NBC News seeking comment.
The attorneys felt pressure from Justice Department leadership in both Minneapolis and Washington to investigate any ties to activist groups by Good and her widow, said a law enforcement official with knowledge of their decisions. The official said the prosecutors were also concerned about a decision to cut out state and local authorities from the federal investigation.
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From high school students to elected officials, residents in Minnesota are pushing back against the growing deployment of federal immigration officers in their neighborhoods, leading to days of confrontations and protests.
Resident Neph Sudduth stopped to choke back tears as she witnessed immigration officers roaming around her neighborhood, just a few blocks from the site where an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good last week, and clashing with protesters.
“They will hurt you for real! They will hurt you for real!” she shouted at anti-ICE demonstrators, urging them to move away from the officers’ vehicles. Just then, an immigration officer rolled down his window, extended his arm and sprayed a protester point-blank in the face with a chemical agent.
Federal agents use pepper spray against a protester Sunday in Minneapolis. Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty Images
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Officials in Minnesota sued the federal government to halt the deployment of thousands of immigration agents to the state.
“We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy, and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference.
Calling the deployment a federal “invasion of the Twin Cities,” he said: “This has to stop.”
A status conference is scheduled for today in the case.
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