In a reasonable world, Renee Good would still be alive

The killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the hands of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week sure has prompted a lot of indefensible responses.

The right, led by the Trump administration, threw everything they could think of out there in defense of the ICE agent before even basic facts could be established.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denounced Good as engaging in “domestic terrorism.” Noem is probably the only person in the country who thought that made sense to say.

Right-wing commentator Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire opined to his 4 million X followers: “This lesbian agitator gave her life to protect 68 IQ Somali scammers who couldn’t give less of a s— about her.” Yes, this is the state of right-wing commentary in 2026.

The president and vice president immediately declared the ICE agent did nothing wrong and in any case had “absolute immunity” because “he was doing his job,” which is quite the shield to give to people with guns if you think about it for more than a few seconds.

No, really, think about it.

In a normal world, the president and vice president would call for calm and note that proper investigations would take place. Matt Walsh would be unknown outside of crank religious right circles still fixated on “the gay agenda” or whatever. And Kristi Noem definitely would not be the head of Homeland Security and instead would have peaked with a term or two in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Alas, here we are. And it’s indeed because of the weird politics of today that Renee Good is dead.

For the last couple of months, the Trump administration has decided that attacking the Somali-American community must be a major domestic policy item.

That some Somalis have participated in schemes to defraud social services was all that the Trump administration needed to justify a months-long campaign of demonizing Somalis and ultimately surging ICE agents to Minnesota in what the administration called “the largest DHS operation ever.” 

As I’ve written in a prior column, a normal, rational response to social services fraud or any crime is to hold those responsible accountable. Scapegoating everyone of similar background as a criminal should be self-evidently wrong to any rational person.

While some will pretend the Trump administration is just really serious about fraud and law and order, the president himself gave the game up already by calling Somalis “garbage” and saying he didn’t want Somalis in America. So it’s against that intentionally hysterical backdrop that Renee Good lost her life. 

It sure doesn’t help that the particulars of what happened in the seconds leading up to Good’s death make for a messy analysis. There were words exchanged, an agent circling the car taking video with his phone and ending up in front of her car. There were conflicting orders shouted at her by agents to variously get out of the car or move. And for reasons we’ll never really know, she abruptly accelerated but was apparently turning the car away from the agents as she was shot.

Former Los Angeles and New York City police Chief Bill Bratton outlined some of the tactical problems on MSNOW.

“One agent is aggressively trying to open her door, yelling at her, while another moves in front of the vehicle,” Bratton said. “She may never have even seen that second agent because her focus was on the one at her door. That’s a serious tactical failure.”

Bratton’s remarks were basically echoed by the few current and retired cops I asked about the shooting. None of them thought the shooting was good or necessary. Two had pointed criticisms of the tactics they saw from the agents, especially the agent ending up in front of the car as he circled the car taking a video with his phone. But as one pointed out, we don’t know what the agent himself perceived at the time and while it might have been avoidable he might have acted within the law. 

As Bratton noted, unpacking all of this is where a thorough investigation is helpful and incendiary rhetoric from the highest political office in the country is not.

But, of course, the Trump administration isn’t your run-of-the-mill administration. Following established processes and norms to uphold at least the perception of integrity isn’t the Trump administration’s game. 

It seems as though the Trump administration doesn’t actually care about law and order, but rather prefers using the law as a pretext to inflict retribution on whoever it deems worthy of punishment.

Whether it’s the ongoing lawfare against critics of the president or immigration bans or tariffs because of political disagreements or the surge of ICE agents to Minnesota of all places, the Trump administration is simply sowing discord because it can.

The killing of Renee Good is just the latest in the Trump saga.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com