Two diametrically opposed Americas exposed by deadly ICE shooting

The fatal shooting of a woman by a federal law enforcement officer in Minneapolis has exposed sharp divisions in American politics — and threatens to intensify an already contentious debate over immigration policy.

The incident occurred in broad daylight. There are multiple videos taken by bystanders in different locations. However, even the basic facts are controversial.

Shortly after the shooting, two contrasting narratives began to form. Any ambiguity in videos shared online is seized upon – using different angles and different screenshots to push a particular narrative.

On the public stage, state and federal officials publicly disagreed.

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the driver was 37-year-old Renee Good. Noem said she “armed her car” in a “domestic terror attack” as she drove away from ICE officers.

US President Donald Trump accused “professional demagogues” and a “violent and hateful radical left movement” in a Truth Society post.

National Democrats and Minnesota state and local officials paint a very different picture.

Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said a federal agent used deadly force “recklessly.” He also asked immigration enforcement officials to leave the city.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the shootings “completely foreseeable” and “completely avoidable,” arguing they were a direct result of the surge of federal immigration officers entering Minneapolis and surrounding areas in recent days.

“We have been warning for weeks that the Trump administration’s dangerous, sensational actions pose a threat to our public safety,” he said Wednesday.

This apparent divide between federal and local officials was further illustrated Thursday morning when the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced that the Justice Department and FBI would no longer cooperate with its investigation into the shooting.

The statement said federal agencies will be solely responsible for handling investigations into the use of deadly force by ICE agents.

It’s both surprising and ironic that Minnesota has become the center of growing conflicts over immigration enforcement in recent months.

Ironically, Goode died just a few miles from where Minneapolis police killed George Floyd during an attempted arrest in 2020, sparking nationwide Black Lives Matter protests — some of which turned violent in Minneapolis.

Walz has put the state’s National Guard on standby and warned hundreds of protesters taking to the streets not to resort to violence.

Minnesota’s central role in this latest conflict is not surprising, as it marks the culmination of months of building conflict, controversy and scandal.

The recent surge in immigration enforcement comes after Trump derided the state’s large number of Somali immigrants — most of whom are U.S. citizens — after community members were found guilty of widespread fraud in the distribution of federal coronavirus aid.

“Hundreds of thousands of Somalis are pillaging our country and tearing this once great nation apart,” he said last November. “We will not tolerate this attack on law and order by those who should not be in our country.”

Walz gave up his re-election bid last week under pressure amid growing allegations of corruption in state social services such as child care and food assistance.

The surge in immigration enforcement in the state is just the latest example of the Trump administration using federal officials to target communities with suspected high rates of undocumented immigrants. The use of force in this operation was by no means an isolated incident.

The Minnesota incident was at least the ninth immigration enforcement-related shooting since September, and all of the shootings involved individuals in cars, according to the New York Times.

The intensity of immigration operations has sparked protests in a growing number of U.S. cities, with Democratic officials calling for greater oversight, accountability and restraint on law enforcement officers.

The deadly shootings in Minneapolis have given advocates of these efforts even more urgency.

Trump administration officials are pressing ahead — citing the mandate they claim to have from voters in the 2024 presidential election and evidence that their efforts have proven effective as the number of people entering the U.S. without documentation has dropped significantly.

They also strongly disputed the argument that video of the Minneapolis shooting was evidence of excessive use of deadly force.

Vice president JD Vance wrote in a post on

While he said the incident was tragic, he added that “it falls on this woman and all the activists who teach people that immigration is the type of law that rioters can interfere with.”

Walz quickly retorted in his next public comments.

“People in positions of power have made judgments, from the president to the vice president to Kristi Noem, and they’ve come out and told you things that are provably false, provably inaccurate,” he said. “They’ve determined the character of a 37-year-old mom that they didn’t even know they had.”

It now appears that even video evidence could explain it. Each saw the same images and came to very different conclusions—conclusions that often (perhaps not surprisingly) reinforced their previously established positions.

The divide in American politics seems both immutable and daunting.

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