“Propaganda machine”: Trump and DHS embrace conspiracy theories tied to ICE killing

In the wake of Renee Nicole Good’s killing, a 37-year-old mother who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in south Minneapolis Wednesday, conservatives are rallying around the alleged killer. The internet and messaging from federal officials, including the president, are filled with claims the woman was a “domestic terrorist.”

Videos from the scene clearly show an ICE officer approaching the car and attempting to open the door while Good, described as a “legal observer” by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, is turning to drive away. Another ICE officer then draws his weapon and fires three shots into the car, killing Good, causing the car to accelerate and crash into a nearby telephone pole and parked vehicle.

In spite of this video evidence, conservatives have latched onto the idea that Good was a “domestic terrorist” who attacked the ICE officers with her car.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, appears to have originated this claim, saying that the woman was “attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism,” which has now been repeated by other Republicans and their surrogates.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-N.C., for example, repeated the administration’s claim of domestic terrorism, adding that “Responsibility lies with politicians who incite hatred against law enforcement and then act shocked when violence follows.”

President Donald Trump claimed that there was a “professional agitator” at the scene.

“The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and 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,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.

ICE also maintains that “the ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries,” though Salon was not able to independently verify whether any ICE officers were hurt or had to go to the hospital.

Another widely circulated clip apparently shows the ICE officer walking away from the scene after the shooting, telling other masked officers to “call 911.”

Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, told Salon the observers were “violent rioters” and claimed that the ICE officer “fired defensive shots.”

“He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers. The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. Thankfully, the ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries,” McLaughlin said.

ICE responded to a follow-up question about video evidence contradicting their account by repeating the same statement. ICE did not respond to questions regarding the identity of the ICE officer in question or whether additional video of the killing would be released.

Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, said at a press conference Wednesday that she would ask the Justice Department to “prosecute it as domestic terrorism, because it’s clear that it’s being coordinated.”

“People are being trained and told how to use their vehicles to impede law enforcement operations and then to run over anybody who gets in their way,” Noem said.

It wasn’t immediately clear who else Noem might ask the Justice Department to prosecute, given that ICE killed Good at the scene.

Good appears to be at least the fifth person who has been killed by ICE since Trump’s second term, according to reporting by the Associated Press. The toll includes a person ICE fatally shot outside Chicago in September, two people who were struck and killed by vehicles while fleeing immigration authorities, and a California farmworker who fell and broke his neck during an ICE raid last July. To date, no officers have been charged in the deaths.

In the shooting of Good, much of MAGA-world’s claims appear to rest on another video of the incident, taken from another angle and from much further away, which they assert supports their version of the events, despite other videos contradicting their claims.

Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey responded to the spin from the administration and their supporters as “bulls**t.”

“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly: That is bulls**t,” Frey said at a press conference Wednesday.

Frey later addressed the claim that Good was a “domestic terrorist,” calling the claim “bulls**t,” in an interview with CNN.

“The narrative ICE is spinning immediately after this was that this was purely self-defense, and that the act by the victim was some sort of domestic terrorism — that, I’ll say it again, is bulls**t,”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also responded to the claims circulated by Republicans, saying in a statement, “I’ve seen the video. Don’t believe this propaganda machine.”

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“The state will ensure there is a full, fair and expeditious investigation to ensure accountability and justice,” Walz said.

Walz later said that he issued Minnesota’s National Guard a “warning order,” which he described as “a heads up for folks.”

Neither Frey nor Walz’s office immediately responded to a request for comment from Salon.

The AP reports that protesters gathered at the site of the shooting on Wednesday night, holding a vigil. Good’s ex-husband told the AP that she had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school when ICE killed her. Her ex-husband described her as a devoted Christian, who loved to sing in chorus in high school and studied vocal performance in college.

Donna Granger, Good’s mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the family was contacted about her death on Wednesday morning.

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

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