USE OF FORCE

A death in Minneapolis brings the stakes of Trump's urban deployments into high relief

- BY PHILIP WANG

IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, Trump Administration officials jumped into a full-throated defense of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent responsible.

The Department of Homeland Security maintained that agent Jonathan Ross “dutifully acted in self-defense,” and sent hundreds more agents into the city, on top of the 2,000 whose presence had sparked widespread protests. The Pentagon meanwhile ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers in Alaska to prepare for a potential deployment to Minnesota, as President Donald Trump spoke of invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Then, on Jan. 20, Trump—who had initially posted on social media that Good “viciously ran over the ICE Officer”—said that while he “felt horribly” about Good’s death, agents “are going to make some mistakes sometimes” while carrying out their work.

And in fact, behind the scenes, current and former ICE agents were expressing concerns not only about the agent’s conduct, but also about the agency’s operations in Minneapolis and a broader push by the Trump Administration to aggressively recruit more agents.

“I’m embarrassed,” one former ICE agent with more than 25 years of experience told TIME. “The majority of my colleagues feel the same way. It’s an insult to us, because we did it the right way, to see what they’re doing now.”

When asked about the deadly shooting, both that former agent and a current ICE agent expressed their reservations about Ross, the agent who shot 37-year-old Good, opening fire three times.

Federal officers approach the Minneapolis home of Teyana Gibson Brown on Jan. 11; agents broke down the door and arrested her husband PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN LOCHER-AP