The family of Renee Good filed suit against the Trump administration on Thursday over her fatal shooting by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis.
The legal action marks one of the first major civil challenges to President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown in Minnesota.
Good was shot and killed inside her car on January 7 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross.
At the time, Good and her wife were taking part in protests against the deployment of federal immigration officers to the city during Operation Metro Surge.
Two lawsuits were filed Thursday. They accuse administration officials of negligence and of violating the civil rights of Good and others during the mass immigration enforcement campaign Trump ordered last winter.
Good’s family is seeking damages and a jury trial.
Operation Metro Surge sent thousands of federal agents onto the streets of Minnesota. Trump ended the surge in February.
Good’s death became a flashpoint in the backlash against the operation.
Video of the encounter shows an agent approaching Good’s vehicle as it partially blocked a roadway.
In the footage, Good can be heard telling the agent, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you.”
A second agent then ordered Good to get out of her vehicle.
Good briefly put the car in reverse before moving forward and driving away.
The agent standing near the front of the vehicle then opened fire. Good was struck three times.
In the immediate aftermath, Trump administration officials accused Good of “domestic terrorism.”
Officials claimed she had tried to weaponize her vehicle and argued that the agent acted in self-defense.
Now, Good’s family is taking the administration to court, putting the government’s account of the deadly encounter and its broader enforcement campaign under legal scrutiny.
The lawsuits target not only the circumstances of Good’s death but also the conduct of officials under the immigration enforcement campaign as a whole. The family alleges that officials were negligent and that the civil rights of Good and others were violated during the operation.
The case puts a spotlight back on Operation Metro Surge, the large-scale enforcement effort that flooded Minnesota with federal agents last winter before the president brought it to an end in February.
It also revisits one of the most contentious moments of the crackdown. The video of the shooting shows how quickly the encounter unfolded, from the agent’s approach and Good’s remark that she was not mad at him, to the order to exit the car, her brief reversal, her drive away and the shots that followed.
The administration’s early response framed Good as a threat, with officials labeling her actions “domestic terrorism” and defending the agent’s decision to fire as self-defense.
Good’s family, through the lawsuits filed Thursday, is challenging the administration’s handling of the operation and seeking to have a jury hear the case.
By pursuing damages and a jury trial, the family is opening what is among the first major civil challenges to Trump’s deportation push in Minnesota.
