The family of Renee Good has filed a pair of sweeping lawsuits against the U.S. government and senior Trump administration officials over her fatal shooting during an ICE enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
Good, 37, was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross back in January during Operation Metro Surge after an encounter in which threatened to attack ICE agents with her vehicle.
Ross fired three shots into Good’s vehicle in an act of self-defense.
New video shows federal agent perspective during ICE shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota that left 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good shot and killed. – Alpha News pic.twitter.com/NVIVCeccyW
— AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) January 9, 2026
Good’s family disputes that account and is now suing the U.S. government by invoking the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
The lawsuit accuses senior Trump administration officials of participating of a racist conspiracy against Hispanics and Somalis.
It names Ross alongside White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, border czar Tom Homan and even journalists such as Christopher Rufo.
This is bonkers. The family of Rene Good has filed a lawsuit accusing me of participating in a “conspiracy” with President Trump, Nick Shirley, and Palantir to violate the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. It provides no evidence for that conspiracy. Reads like a left-wing QAnon fantasy. pic.twitter.com/2c6wDhApOp
— Christopher Rufo (@christopherrufo) October 1, 2026
Attorneys are also trying to connect the shooting to the Trump administration’s broader effort to enforce federal immigration law in Minnesota.
”Renee’s death was not an accident,” they said.
“It was the predictable result of a coordinated campaign by senior officials in this administration to target Minnesotans of Somali or Hispanic origin and silence anyone who dared to raise their voice in protest.
Renée Good’s family is suing Trump officials, seeking accountability for what they described as a wrongful use of force and a broader effort to undermine the rights of Minneapolis residents. https://t.co/LhAbptpQZ9 pic.twitter.com/cJYNyW4tag
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 1, 2026
The legal theory relies partly on Sections 1985 and 1986 of the Ku Klux Klan Act, Reconstruction-era legislation passed to protect constitutional rights of raicla minorities.
Good family attorney Benjamin Berkman said the lawsuit “reaches the agent who fired those shots at Renee and it reaches every official who put him on the street that day.”
The family of Renee Good, one of two US citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January, sued the Trump administration, saying there had been ‘no accountability’ for her killing during deportation sweeps https://t.co/G3hQAOYSX4 pic.twitter.com/4wZvZqLD1N
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 1, 2026
The family has separately sued the U.S. under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging wrongful death, battery, assault, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
Another family attorney, Antonio Romanucci offered an even more sweeping characterization at Thursday’s press conference.
“Our government has become a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens,” he declared.
The White House has said it will “vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits.”
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