Renee Nicole Good's family has filed a civil rights lawsuit against several Trump administration officials, nearly nine months after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot her on a Minneapolis street during Operation Metro Surge.
The lawsuit names ICE officer Jonathan Ross, 10 unnamed federal agents, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials. The complaint invokes the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, alleging that officials conspired to use Operation Metro Surge to deny Minnesota's Somali and Hispanic communities equal protection under the law – and to intimidate or use force against people like Good who observed the operation or warned others
about it.
"There is no such thing as impunity when it comes to violating protected rights," Antonio Romanucci, an attorney for Good's family, said at an Oct. 1 news conference. "When government power crosses the line, there must be accountability.”
I empathize with her family's search for justice. What happened was a tragedy, and ICE has escalated to that kind of force several times since. Those tactics warrant investigation, and this lawsuit may shed light on them.
But I still don't see how this particular case violated Good's rights, and claiming it did undermines the necessity of enforcing federal immigration law. The lawsuit reveals two stark worldviews about immigration enforcement.
Good interfered with a lawful, vital operation. That's the truth
Video of the Jan. 7 shooting shows two things: An ICE officer used lethal force that killed a mother and American citizen. But Good also seemed to drive her vehicle toward that officer, prompting him to fire. She appears to have broken the law by obstructing a federal enforcement operation.
The Klan Act was passed to stop the KKK's violence against Black Americans and enforced the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection to every person in the country. Tying it to Operation Metro Surge – and casting Good's death as the product of a racial conspiracy – seems like a reach.
The complaint calls Operation Metro Surge "a violent and discriminatory campaign targeted at Minnesotans on the basis of race and national origin." Good, it says, "was killed on a public street, while doing what thousands of her neighbors were doing that winter: watching masked, armed men terrorizing her community and refusing to look away."
ICE's use of lethal force should be investigated, but I think the claim that a discriminatory campaign killed Good is false. The lawsuit seems to rest on a worldview at odds with our nation's immigration laws.
ICE must continue to enforce our nation's laws
I don't like ICE's use of lethal force against Good or in the sporadic shootings since, but enforcing federal immigration law is vital to the health and security of our sovereign country. Our borders were porous and chaotic for way too long under the Biden administration. President Donald Trump put a stop to that.
Operation Metro Surge began in December, and on Jan. 6 the Department of Homeland Security announced it was sending 2,000 agents to the Twin Cities. About a month later, ICE reported arresting more than 4,000 noncitizens during the operation, "including murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists."
According to MPR News, more than 2,300 people arrested in the surge were later deported or left the country.
The lawsuit's claims – that Operation Metro Surge was simply racist and discriminatory, and that Good died exercising her constitutional rights by standing witness to it – underscore the biggest difference between Republicans and Democrats right now: not just how to enforce immigration law, but whether to enforce it at all.
After Good died, progressive Democrats in both chambers urged their party to block DHS funding, and some prominent Democrats called for abolishing ICE outright.
After an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan delivery driver in Austin on Sept. 20, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, told reporters that ICE had made Austin less safe and to "get the hell out."
These are fundamental differences that cannot coexist peacefully.
What happened to Good was a tragedy, and I understand why her family wants answers and justice. But from what I can see, Good knowingly interfered with a federal enforcement operation. ICE agents were in Minneapolis to maintain law and order, not to target people by race or national origin. Even a caring U.S. citizen has no right to interfere, just as no one has the right to remain in America unlawfully.
I hope ICE keeps refining its tactics so that another death like Good's doesn't happen, without compromising the integrity of our nation's laws. I'm not sure this lawsuit is trying to accomplish that. I'm even less sure it will.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Renee Good's tragic death wasn't part of a racist conspiracy | Opinion
