Renee Good’s family has sued the US government and officials involved in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying the time has come for accountability over her killing by a federal agent in Minneapolis in January.
The lawsuits were filed by Good’s partner, Becca Good, and her brother, Brent Ganger, on behalf of her wider family. They accuse the government and Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot into Good’s SUV, of using unjustified and excessive force.
One case seeks damages from the US government over wrongful death. The other names Ross and senior federal officials, including White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan. The claims include wrongful death, conspiracy and other alleged violations. The lawsuits seek an unspecified amount of damages.
The Justice Department did not respond to an email seeking comment, according to the Associated Press.
## The shooting in Minneapolis
Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was killed while driving with Becca on a Minneapolis street where masked federal immigration officers were conducting an enforcement operation. The couple had just dropped their six-year-old son at school.
Good stopped their red SUV and repeatedly honked the horn to warn people about the operation. Becca got out and began recording with her mobile phone.
Bystander video shows Good in the driver’s seat, with the vehicle blocking part of the road. Two immigration officers emerge from a truck with their faces covered. One orders Good to leave the car.
The video shows Good briefly reversing before turning the steering wheel as the officer again says: “Get out of the car.” Almost simultaneously, Becca shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”
The officer standing in front of the vehicle draws his weapon and fires through the windshield. As the vehicle turns away, he moves back. The officer then fires two more times from close to the open driver’s-side window, fatally shooting Good, according to an analysis of the videos by the Associated Press and others.
Federal officials said at the time that the officer acted in self-defence. They also described Good’s actions as “an act of domestic terrorism”. The family’s lawsuits dispute that account and describe the shooting as an unjustified use of force.
## A family seeking accountability
Becca Good described Renee as “the love of my life” at a news conference announcing the lawsuits.
“I’m here today because last January, the whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed — as the sunshine who was my amazing Renee was robbed from us, from her children, and from her community,” she said.
Good and Becca were not legally married, according to a family lawyer, but referred to one another as wives. They had recently moved to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri.
Becca said she did not hate the people who took Renee from her family. But she said those involved would have to live with the consequences of the shooting.
“They took a mother away from her children,” she said. “They know that. And they will carry it forever.”
Ganger said the family was seeking accountability after what he described as a senseless killing and a lack of official action.
“And the fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind blowing,” he said.
The wrongful death lawsuit against the government seeks damages for what it describes as the “immense suffering” Good endured in her final moments and the family’s “profound and permanent” loss.
## Allegations over Operation Metro Surge
The lawsuits place the shooting within the broader immigration enforcement operation known as Operation Metro Surge. The operation was part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Somali and other immigrants in Minnesota, according to the legal cases.
One lawsuit describes Good’s killing as the “predictable and intended product” of the administration’s policy. The other alleges that Operation Metro Surge was a conspiracy designed to violate immigrants’ civil rights and make Somali and Hispanic immigrants “the object of aggression and abduction”.
The lawsuit says the operation used violence and the threat of arrest to intimidate neighbours and allies who observed, documented or warned others about enforcement activity. It also alleges that the administration targeted Becca rather than conducting a full investigation into Renee’s killing.
The case further claims that the government sought to conceal evidence and that officials were concerned a civil rights investigation would undermine Trump’s assertion that Good had tried to kill an officer. Those allegations have not been established in court.
Other defendants named in the conspiracy lawsuit include Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign manager who also served as one of Noem’s advisers; former acting ICE director Todd Lyons; former US Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino; and 10 unnamed federal agents.
## Wider controversy over immigration enforcement
The deaths of Good and Alex Pretti, another US citizen killed in Minneapolis weeks later, generated national outrage and calls for limits on immigration enforcement.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers during Trump’s second term, according to the supplied report. The administration’s crackdown has also prompted lawsuits from groups and officials including Chicago-area pastors, more than a dozen states, and the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, although few have been convicted of crimes, according to the report.
The lawsuits were announced at the University of St Thomas School of Law, where dozens of law students watched the family and its lawyers speak. Family lawyer Antonio Romanucci said the government had become “a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens”.
Ganger said the family would continue pressing its case.
“The time is absolutely now for accountability for the deep damage done by ICE and others,” he said. “We will not be quiet. We will not go away.”
## Legal challenges ahead
Good’s lawyers acknowledged that the cases would be difficult. Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St Thomas law school, said the lawsuits faced significant obstacles and that the government was likely to offer many reasons why they should not proceed.
“These are both complicated types of lawsuits, and so I can’t predict how they will play out,” Moran said.
She said the conspiracy lawsuit could nevertheless bring to light details about the immigration crackdown, including the involvement of senior officials.
“Yes, ICE agents on the ground acted problematically, but that was at the behest, in many ways, of people very high up in the administration,” she said.
The lawsuits now place the family’s account of Good’s death, the federal government’s stated justification for the shooting and the wider operation before the courts. Their allegations remain unresolved, and the cases’ legal outcomes are uncertain.
