The family of Renee Good, the woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in January in Minneapolis, has filed civil lawsuits against the federal government, federal agents and officials.
Renee Good was fatally shot by ICE officer Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7.
“The day of accountability has arrived for our own U.S. government and its governmental agencies ICE and CBP,” said Antonio Romanucci, one of the attorneys representing Renee Good’s family. “When government power crosses a line, there must be accountability.”
The first complaint names the United States as the sole defendant and alleges wrongful death under Minnesota law, citing “battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence that caused Renee’s death.”
According to Benjamin Berkman, an attorney with Romanucci and Blandin, the first lawsuit seeks accountability for the decisions that Ross and other agents made that day, and their choice to “violate DHS policy after DHS policy.”
The process when it comes to seeking accountability from federal agents differs from how one would seek accountability from a local law enforcement officer, explained Sarah Raisch, a partner with Romanucci’s firm. The family must file a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and the government can take up to six months to decide on a response. Eventually, instead of a jury trial, the case will be decided by a judge, Raisch said.
The second suit names Ross, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others, alleging a “conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by senior federal officials, federal immigration enforcement agents, and private actors.” It also alleges a discriminatory conspiracy targeting Somali and Hispanic communities and silencing their allies.
“We filed two complaints because they address two distinct but related evils,” said Berkman. “The first is about what happened on Portland Ave. on Jan. 7 … The second is about why Jonathan Ross and those agents were on Portland Avenue to begin with. And the answer is a coordinated effort by the federal government to target, harass and terrorize Somali and Hispanic Minnesotans. And a coordinated effort to silence by any means necessary the Minnesotans who would not look away.”
Renee Good’s partner Becca Good also spoke publicly for the first time since Jan. 7, calling Renee Good the love of her life.
“The whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed,” Becca Good said.
She added that Renee Good was funny and loved to read, and “found beauty in every moment.”
“Today we are taking a step to build a world Renee would have wanted. The one I promise our son I am working toward every night when I tuck him in. This is the world she believed in. It’s the world I’m going to fight for. And it’s the world I’m going to raise our son in,” she said.
The lawsuits come just days after Renee Good’s mother and brother, Donna and Brent Ganger, testified before Congress in a joint hearing on fatal shootings in the past two years by federal immigration officers.
