US Justice Department says no to probing the ICE agent, despite public outrage over Renee Good’s shooting in Minnesota.
United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be investigating the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who killed Renee Nicole Macklin Good, while also confirming reports that it is looking into charges against top Minnesota officials for encouraging protests.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday night, Blanche said the civil rights unit of the Justice Department would not bow to pressure to investigate the shooting death of Minneapolis resident and mother Good, 37, earlier this month.
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“We don’t just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody,” said Blanche. “We investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate.”
“So, no, we are not investigating. And if there comes a time when we need to, we will, but it’s not now,” Blanche added.
Increasingly tense confrontations between residents and federal officers have erupted in Minneapolis since Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot behind the wheel of her car while protesting by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on January 7.
Blanche also said that footage of Good’s death has already “been reviewed by millions and millions of Americans because it was recorded on phones when it happened”.
However, analysis conducted by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and APM Reports found that there still remain questions about the shooting, including why it allegedly took more than 10 minutes after Good was shot before she was given CPR.
According to the MPR and APM reports, ICE agents left Good “bleeding and alone in the car for almost three minutes” and “turned away a man identifying himself as a physician who offered to help”.
The administration of President Donald Trump has argued that Ross, the ICE agent who shot Good up to four times, was acting in self-defence.
Top Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance and White House adviser Stephen Miller, have also said that ICE officers have “absolute immunity” for their immigration enforcement actions.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing Good’s family said last week that they have launched their own “civil investigation” into her death.
“People in Minneapolis and across this country truly, truly care about what happened to Renee Good on January 7, 2026, and are committed to understanding how she could have been killed on the street after dropping her child off at school,” lawyer Antonio Romanucci said in a statement.
Top Minnesota Democrats under investigation
Blanche also separately confirmed reports that the DOJ has launched an investigation into Minnesota Governor and former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz as well as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, alleging the two Democratic leaders were “encouraging criminals to go out on the street and impede ICE”.
Blanche’s comments are the first time a member of the Trump administration has confirmed media reports that Walz and Frey are under investigation.
“No matter who you are, whether you’re a governor, a mayor or somebody out there on the streets assaulting ice, you cannot, under federal law, you cannot impede a federal officer doing their job, and that’s what we’re looking at,” said Blanche.
Responding to earlier media reports that the DOJ had launched its probe, Frey said he would “not be intimidated”.
“This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city,” Frey said in a post on X.
Walz, meanwhile, responded to the reports indirectly, saying in a statement: “Weaponising the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”
Walz also drew comparison to US Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, who are under investigation by the Trump administration after appearing with other Democratic lawmakers in a video urging members of the military to resist “illegal orders” given by their superiors.