Trump; Protest in Texas against ICE (AP photo)
US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent just hours after a 37-year-old woman was shot and killed during a federal operation in Minneapolis.Speaking to reporters, Trump said he did not want to see anyone get shot, but added that he also did not want to see officers being run over. He claimed the woman had tried to drive into the ICE agent. “She behaved horribly,” Trump said. “And then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over,” he said, as quoted by New York Times.When asked whether firing into a vehicle was acceptable, Trump repeated that the situation was “vicious” and asked an aide to pull up surveillance footage on a laptop. As the slow-motion video played, Trump called it “a terrible scene” and said he hated watching it. . “I think it’s horrible to watch. No, I hate to see it,” he said.The woman who was killed was Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US-born citizen. She was sitting inside her car during a large ICE operation when an agent fired multiple shots at close range, killing her.Witnesses told Minnesota Public Radio News that ICE agents gave Good conflicting instructions. Some said she was told to leave the area, while another officer tried to open her car door. As she attempted to move her car away, an agent shot into the vehicle. Several witnesses said they did not see her car hit any officer before shots were fired.Federal officials said the shooting was justified and announced an investigation, but senior Trump administration figures quickly defended the agent’s actions. Local leaders disputed the federal account. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called for ICE to leave the city, while Minnesota governor Tim Walz said the operation showed the risks of aggressive federal enforcement.
