On Jan. 7, Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by an Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Seven days earlier on New Year’s Eve, Keith Porter, a 43-year-old father of two, was shot and killed outside of his Los Angeles home by an off-duty ICE agent.
In both shootings, the agents claimed to have acted in self-defense.
Bystanders tell a different story.
Jonathan Ross, the Minneapolis agent who shot Good, claimed the mother of three attempted to ram him with her car, prompting him to act with deadly force.
Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, echoed these claims in a press conference saying, “a woman attacked them” and “attempted to run them over.”
However, eyewitness accounts and videos contradict these claims. Bystander footage shows Good was attempting to flee as agents tried to force her car door open. Her wheels were facing away from the agents when she was shot.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The unidentified agent who shot and killed Porter on New Year’s Eve was off-duty when he heard shots outside of his apartment. According to the agent, he went outside to investigate what he thought to be an “active shooter threat.”
While outside, he claims he saw Porter with an assault rifle, identified himself as an ICE agent and asked Porter to drop the weapon. He then claims that Porter aimed the weapon at him, forcing him to shoot in self defense.
According to his family, Porter was shooting his rifle in the air to celebrate the holiday. Several bystanders recount that the agent never identified himself and the victim never aimed his gun toward the agent before being gunned down.
The shootings of Good and Porter continue a troubling trend of deaths at the hands of ICE. In 2025 alone, 32 people reportedly died in ICE custody across the country.
As of December 2025, 68,440 people were held in federal detention centers, with nearly 75% of detainees having no criminal history or convictions.
ICE and Border Patrol will receive an additional $170 billion in federal funds through September 2029. The administration has plans to hire more agents, conduct more raids and open more detention centers.
Recent border agent recruitment efforts include up to $50,000 signing bonuses and student loan forgiveness for new agents.
White House border czar, Tom Homan, said that President Trump had delivered on his promise of a “historic deportation operation,” and hopes that the number of arrests will increase with new funding.
“I think you’re going to see the numbers explode greatly next year,” he said.
On Jan. 8, two more individuals were shot by ICE agents in Portland, Oregon. Details are still emerging.
