DHS to send more ICE officers to Minnesota as local lawmakers question legitimacy of FBI probe
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Minnesota officials raised doubts Sunday that the results of an investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Macklin Good by a federal immigration officer would be legitimate.
Several took to national television programs, along with Trump administration officials, to discuss the incident that took place Wednesday in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis. And they said the FBI’s move to conduct the probe without state or local law enforcement coordination would raise questions about the bureau's findings.
They urged the Trump administration to bring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension back into the investigation to ensure public trust. While state law enforcement were initially set to investigate the shooting in tandem with federal officials, the FBI moved to investigate on its own in the days following the shooting.
U.S. Sen. Tina Smith told ABC’s “This Week” that Minnesotans would have a hard time accepting the results of a federal investigation after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump deemed Macklin Good’s actions an act of domestic terrorism within hours of her death.
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“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation without prejudice, when, at the beginning of that investigation, they have already announced exactly what they saw, what they think happened, and then they bar from participating in the investigation the unbiased state investigators who frequently collaborate with federal investigators on, when there are things that need to be looked into?” Smith said.
“I think they have just completely destroyed any credibility, as they have so quickly rushed to judgment,” she continued.
Smith said that without transparency and state involvement in the investigation, it appears the Trump administration is trying to create a cover.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey echoed that sentiment on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We need to be doing this transparently, and what I was pushing back on from the very beginning was a narrative that had jumped to that conclusion right from the get-go,” he said. “When you’ve got a whole administration that is so quick to jump on a narrative as opposed to the truth, I think we all need to be speaking out.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended her comments in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. She said the officer who fatally shot Macklin Good, Jonathan Ross, acted in self-defense, thinking Macklin Good intended to ram him with her car.
Noem also condemned Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for speaking ill of ICE officers and for pressing the Trump administration to remove them from Minnesota. Instead, the department has surged hundreds of additional officers to the state.
“They’ve inflamed the public. They’ve encouraged the kind of destruction and violence that we’ve seen in Minneapolis the last several days. And I would encourage them to grow up, get some maturity, act like people who are responsible, who want people to be safe and the right thing be done,” Noem told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
She continued, “When you use the kind of language that you use against law enforcement officers, they lose their credibility.”
Thousands took to the streets in Minneapolis over the weekend to protest ICE’s operations in the city and to call for justice after Macklin Good’s killing. Trump administration officials say the enhanced presence in the state is aimed at targeting undocumented people who’ve committed crimes. But local leaders said it’s affected American citizens and hasn’t made the city safer.
“You know how many shootings we have had so far this year? Two. And one of them was ICE,” Frey told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Two shootings in a large city so far this entire year, and one of them is ICE. This is a safe city, ICE and Kristi Noem and everything they’re doing is making it far less safe.”
Meanwhile, DHS officials say they’re sending hundreds of additional immigration enforcement officers to Minnesota. Noem told Fox News that the additional officers would help ICE and Border Patrol agents in the city with their immigration enforcement actions.
The department deployed 2,000 officers to the state ahead of the latest surge.
