WASHINGTON—The ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good after she blocked federal officers with her car and then drove toward him with her vehicle has the staunch backing of the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday.
Leavitt reiterated President Donald Trump’s position on the incident as she spoke to reporters outside the White House on a frigid Monday afternoon, tearing into protestors for opposing the ICE operations in Minneapolis — operations intended to make their community safer.
“All weekend long, you had agitators and violent American citizens out in the streets of Minneapolis ‘protesting,'” Leavitt said. “Protesting what, exactly? Apparently, they are protesting the removal of heinous murderers and rapists and criminals.”
The White House press secretary praised the ICE agents who continue doing their work despite the backlash from left-wing protestors. She specifically emphasized that the Trump administration has the back of the ICE agent who shot 37-year-old Good, described by her neighbors as a “warrior” member of an “ICE watch” group.
“ICE is doing an incredibly important job that’s not just important to our homeland security, but our national security,” Leavitt said. “This administration will continue to stand wholeheartedly by the brave men and women of ICE, including that officer in Minneapolis who was absolutely justified in using self-defense against a lunatic who is part of a group, an organized group, to interject and to impede on law enforcement operations.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 12: U.S. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House on January 12, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
She added, “It’s disgusting what we have seen from the Left, and I think that it just shows you where the modern-day Democrat Party stands today in protecting illegal alien pedophiles and rapists and murderers over law-abiding American citizens and our brave men and women who serve in law enforcement.”
The ICE agent who is currently under heavy scrutiny was previously dragged over 100 yards down the street as he chased an illegal immigrant who was convicted of “repeatedly sexually abusing his 16-year-old stepdaughter,” the Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer previously reported. The officer repeatedly tried to de-escalate the situation and gave the suspect the opportunity to comply, court documents show.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, there has been a 1,300% increase in assaults on ICE agents, a 3,200% surge in vehicle attacks on ICE agents, and an 8,000% increase in death threats against ICE agents. DHS blames this rise in violence against ICE agents on the “malicious rhetoric of sanctuary politicians.”
Democrats across the board argue that the ICE agent killed Good without justification. Top voices like Zohran Mamdani outright accused the ICE agent of murdering Good, former presidential candidate Kamala Harris said the “Trump administration’s explanation of this shooting is pure gaslighting,” and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has repeatedly characterized ICE and their activities as dangerous to the public, telling ICE to “get the f*ck out of Minneapolis.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were quick to back the agent, citing videos of the incident showing that he shot Good after she drove her car into him.
“I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” the president said in a post on Wednesday. “It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”
Trump said at the time that “the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis.”
“They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE,” he argued. “We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”
As for Vance, the vice president took the podium at the White House press briefing on Thursday and aggressively defended the administration’s immigration enforcement, backing the ICE agent and calling on reporters to pray for the man facing so much backlash, arguing that the agent “wishes he was not put in the position where he had to fire a gun to defend his own life.”
“The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace,” he told the White House press, “and it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day.”
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