Gov. Beshear calls fatal Minnesota ICE shooting ‘preventable’ and ‘tragic’
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear described the fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday “foreseeable,” “preventable” and “tragic.”
The two-term Democratic governor said Thursday during his first press briefing of the year President Donald Trump’s administration is “grossly irresponsible.”
“No. 1: We’ve got to go about this entirely different than we are right now,” he added. “Yes, we need secure borders, but how we enforce our law shows our humanity or lack of it, and this administration is definitely showing a lack of it.”
On Jan. 7, Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Public records show Good recently lived in Missouri, and she described herself on social media as a “poet and writer and wife and mom” from Colorado, according to the Associated Press.
An ICE officer approached her car and demanded Good open the door before grabbing the handle, according to videos taken by bystanders and posted to social media.
In the same videos, Good begins to push the car forward when a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range.
Good died after being shot in the head.
Her death, according to the Associated Press, is at least the fifth to result from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Since taking office again at the start of 2025, the president’s renewed immigration strategy aims to dramatically reduce the number of people entering the country through stronger enforcement, tighter rules and broader deportations.
The Associated Press reported it is not clear in the videos if Good’s car ever makes contact with either officer. After the officer shot into the car at Good, the vehicle then speeds into two parked cars before coming to a stop.
Beshear told reporters Jan. 8 the nature of the incident, the fact that it was a law enforcement shooting, mandates an investigation.
“In all of this, the responsible thing to do is let the investigation play out, even when tensions are heightened,” Beshear said. “And I’ve lived through this, you have to let the facts ultimately speak for themselves out of the investigation.”
Then, Beshear tore into the Trump team’s response and expressed frustration with the administration’s immigration tactics.
“But what do we see from this administration? Including the ultimate boss of ICE, (U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security) Kristi Noem, before any investigation had even started? She called this ... mom a domestic terrorist without getting the results from law enforcement,” he said. “President Trump’s already gone on the record calling her the aggressor.
“This is a U.S. citizen; that’s supposed to be her president.”
Before being elected to two terms as governor, Beshear was Kentucky’s attorney general for four years.
Beshear — who has so far taken a middle-of-the-road approach to immigration enforcement that balances the law with treating people with humanity first and often doesn’t mention ICE by name — took a stance on the federal law enforcement agency.
“I’ve never seen a government agency push a group of law enforcement be as aggressive and use the words of aggressiveness that I have with what is being pushed out there on ICE,” he said.
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