Tragedy and Reality

Erick Erickson on Jan 9, 2026

Renee Good died on Wednesday in Minneapolis. She had been attempting to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents engaged in federal law enforcement activities. Along with other protestors, Good involved herself in what federal agents were doing and used her car to block them. Confronted by federal agents, Good accelerated with an agent in front of her car. He pulled his gun, she accelerated and struck him, he opened fire and shot her. She died.

Watching the video footage, it is clear she accelerated with an agent directly in front of her car and struck him. Close observers noted her front wheel appeared to be turned, so not intending to hit the agent. The agent who shot her was not looking down to try to see her tire. The car came towards him on an icy, slippery road. He pulled his gun. She kept accelerating. He fired.

The Democratic Party sent out a tweet that federal agents had murdered an American citizen. The agent, in a very tense situation, operated in self-defense. The whole thing is tragic. Good is neither a hero nor a martyr. She tried to obstruct a federal operation. When confronted, she tried to flee the scene, hitting an officer who drew his gun and shot her.

For four years, Americans witnessed an overrun southern border. Democrats repeatedly denied there was a problem. They falsely claimed the border was secure. Voters decided to vote for President Donald Trump, a man whose supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol just a few years before, because the voters decided Trump was preferable to the status quo.

Progressives did not handle that rejection well. Despite Mr. Trump winning the popular vote, progressives swung into action to not just obstruct every presidential initiative, but to harass federal agents and protect the very illegal aliens that most Americans want ejected from the country.

Going back to 2019, the local Minnesota press has documented a massive welfare fraud operation. Eighty-nine percent of those indicted are from a Somali community that has failed to assimilate into the United States. In 2019, the Minneapolis Fox affiliate reported Minnesota welfare money was being used to fund Islamic terror. Just a few weeks ago, another report came out documenting that Somali fraud in Minnesota had flowed to an Islamic terror group in Somalia.

Governor Tim Walz has decided not to run for re-election, in part because of the scandal. The fraud, which some estimates put at several billion dollars, happened on his watch. Walz has insisted there is no scandal and it is all racism. Walz and Jacob Frey, the Minneapolis Mayor, both insist federal agents are acting as a Gestapo.

The incendiary rhetoric from Democratic politicians fired up progressive activists. ICE agents have been fired upon. In Texas, several illegal aliens were killed when a progressive activist fired at ICE agents. ICE agents have been hit by cars, assaulted and vilified for trying to clean up the mess created by Democrats.

Progressive activists have turned violent, interfered and now one has been killed. We cannot observe this tragedy without acknowledging not just the incendiary rhetoric of the left, but also the repeated assassination attempts on federal agents. It is a tragedy that Ms. Good is dead and leaves behind a son whose father died a few years ago. But Ms. Good should not have been attempting to obstruct ICE agents. She should not have used her car as a barricade. She should not have ignored the ICE agents. She should not have struck an ICE agent with her vehicle.

The ICE agents are there because Democrats have allowed an illegal alien problem to fester. They are vilified by progressive politicians and have been targeted by progressive activists. Ms. Good would be alive today except she believed the hysteria of people like Tim Walz. She substituted politics for religion and decided to involve herself in political protest and opposition. She is now dead because of it.

This is a tragedy. It was avoidable. But Democrats have grown more shrill and hysterical since she died. There will be more attacks on ICE agents, all of whom are simply doing the job of deporting those the Democrats let flood the country.

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To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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