The family of a woman who was killed by an immigration agent in Minneapolis has announced two lawsuits against the US government and members of the Trump administration.
Renee Good, a US citizen, was shot to death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a major immigration sweep in January. Millions watched the video recorded of her killing and residents of the Minnesota city took to the streets to protest.
One lawsuit blames the government for her death, claiming the operation created “an unprecedented environment for state-sponsored violence”, a lawyer for the family said.
A White House spokeswoman in a statement called the lawsuits “baseless”.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the shooting, Becca Good told a news conference on the lawsuits on Thursday: “The whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed.”
“We were all robbed,” she said as she described how the shooting affected their three children.
In one of the lawsuits, the family accuses the government of “battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence that caused Renee’s death”, according to the family’s lawyer.
It cites the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows citizens to sue the government for personal injury, death or property damage caused by the negligence of federal employees.
The second lawsuit targets ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who shot Good, as well as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House border tsar Tom Homan and others, alleging a “conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by senior federal officials, federal immigration enforcement agents and private actors”.
“Our government has become a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens,” the family’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci told Thursday’s news conference.
Renee Nicole GoodIn her statement, Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the White House, said the deaths of Americans at the hands of illegal immigrants should merit “equal coverage” by news media.
She also said the government will “vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits”.
Trump had initially blamed Good’s own actions for her death, saying just hours after she was killed that she “violently, wilfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer”. Weeks later, he called her death a “tragedy” and said agents were sometimes “going to make a mistake”.
The White House also shared a comment from Trump where he said: “I would bet you that she, under normal circumstances, was a very solid, wonderful person – but her actions were pretty tough.”
He also said ICE agents’ work “is being made very difficult” and that “when you look at the way that car was pulled away… there are a couple versions of that tape that are very very bad,” according to the comments.
Good was a 37-year-old mother of three who had just moved to the city. She was shot on 7 January in a traffic stop, which immigration authorities said occurred after she made “an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to agents”. Witnesses disputed that she had been attempting to attack officers.
Her death sparked nationwide protests that intensified after another Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, was killed by immigration agents on 24 January.
Weeks later, hundreds of federal agents were withdrawn from the city and the official in charge of the operation, Greg Bovino, was removed from his post.
Granger, Good’s brother, said at Thursday’s news conference that “since her death no meaningful change has occurred”.
“Our family is waiting and we will wait no longer,” he said.
At least 10 people have been killed in encounters with immigration officers during Trump’s second term, which began in January 2025, according to the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Good’s mother testified at a congressional hearing, saying: “I am a registered Republican. I voted for President Trump under the impression that these agents were here to protect the citizens of the United States.
“But far more than being a Republican, I am a Christian,” she continued. “Jesus teaches us to forgive and I have, but what we are asking for is accountability.”
