Anyone who watched the video of the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent on January 7th in Minneapolis could only conclude that the officer was not justified in using deadly force against Ms. Good. The victim, a 37-year–old mother of three, was fleeing the scene. When he fired the shots at point blank range into her vehicle, the officer was just outside the driver’s side window, not in front of her vehicle where he could have been struck by her vehicle. The officer’s life was not in danger. If he believed the driver had committed a crime and was trying to escape, the officer could have easily shot her front tire, which would have prevented her from driving away without killing her.

An objective observer could not state that the officer was acting in self-defense, the only legal basis for using deadly force in that situation. Yet, that is what the Trump administration wants the American people to believe.

            In fact, no matter what the circumstances, we are only permitted to consider what Trump wants us to believe. That’s how autocrats operate. The truth is whatever the dictator says is true. Trump affirmed as much when he recently told reporters from the NY Times: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”[1] So far, Trump has been able to get away with that charade, whether it’s the Epstein conspiracy to commit the sex trafficking of minors, or the alleged drug smuggling by fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela.

            But, in the murder of Renee Good, we are able to see what actually happened with our own eyes. And it’s clear that the Trump administration is doing whatever it can to cover that up. Why else would all the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee vote to block an investigation of what happened?[2] Why else would Trump’s FBI block Minnesota officials from accessing evidence.[3] Why else would Trump immediately claim that Ms. Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense,”[4] when the video clearly shows she was driving away, and not trying to run the officer over. And, why else would Secretary of Homeland Security Noem immediately determine that Ms. Good was a “domestic terrorist” intentionally attempting to kill the ICE officer prior to any investigation.[5]

            In the wake of Ms. Good’s killing, NY Times columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote: “All of us, citizens and immigrants alike, are being ruled by people who think life is a privilege bestowed by authority, and death is a fair penalty for disobedience.”[6] It’s time all Americans – left, right, and center – stand up for our rights to self-governance and justice for all. We must come together and take back our government from Trump’s corrupt, lawless administration. We must do it now before it’s too late.

Bruce Berlin, J.D.

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), and his new memoir, From Camden to Kathmandu. (See bruceberlinauthor.com) He is the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com. Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/

---

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/08/us/trump-nyt-interview

[2] https://www.commondreams.org/news/ice-shoot-woman

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/minnesota-ice-shooting-news.html

[4] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-baselessly-claims-ice-shooting-222722975.html

[5] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/kristi-noem-calls-for-doj-to-prosecute-dead-ice-shooting-victim-as-domestic-terrorist/ar-AA1TMfKD?ocid=BingNewsVerp

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/opinion/renee-good-minnesota-shooting-ice.html