As Minneapolis ICE shooting draws national attention, local and federal leaders dig in their heels
The Trump administration criticized Democrats for “hateful rhetoric” as Minnesota leaders blamed federal officials for the shooting.
By Jacob Wendler, 01/11/2026 02:42 PM EST
Local and federal officials have failed to find common ground as the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman became a flashpoint in the national battle over immigration enforcement, instead accusing one another of escalating a tense standoff that has captured national attention.
Just four days after an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in her car on Wednesday, Trump administration officials blitzed the Sunday shows to make clear that the White House would not back down from its position: that the shooting was justified and that Democratic leaders are responsible for a powder keg that has left three people shot — one of whom was killed — in standoffs with federal agents just this week.
Minneapolis leaders, on the other hand, insisted that federal officials were demonizing immigrants and protesters, contributing to an inevitable escalation in violence.
Minnesota officials have also clashed with the Trump administration over the effort to investigate the incident, with local leaders saying they’ve been iced out of the federal probe. Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said Thursday that federal officials quickly “reversed course” and said the investigation would be led solely by the FBI after initially vowing to work with state officials.
In a Sunday morning interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, said “there is deep mistrust” between local and federal officials, accusing the Trump administration of being “quick to jump on a narrative as opposed to the truth.” Frey, who swiftly demanded that ICE “get the fuck out of Minneapolis” on the heels of the shooting, has been thrust into the national spotlight once again after leading the city during a wave of protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
But White House border Czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the decision not to partner with state and local officials, with Noem telling CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday: “We do work with locals when they work with us.” In separate appearances on NBC and Fox News, Homan said the federal government has jurisdiction to lead investigations into shootings involving federal officers.
The Trump administration officials also accused Democrats of intensifying tensions in the wake of the shooting, with Homan warning on Fox News, “There will be more bloodshed unless we decrease the hateful rhetoric.”
Calls from Democrats for ICE to pull back from its aggressive immigration crackdown also grew louder after Customs and Border Protection agents shot two people in Portland on Thursday, with the city’s mayor calling on the federal government to halt immigration enforcement actions in Portland until more information could come to light about the circumstances of the shooting.
Speaking to ABC’s Martha Raddatz during an appearance on “This Week,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) alleged the administration was attempting to “cover up what happened” in Minneapolis.
“I think they have just completely destroyed any credibility as they have so quickly rushed to judgement,” Smith said of the federal government’s investigation.
Meanwhile, state officials from both Minnesota and Oregon said they would launch their own probes into the deadly shootings in their states this week amid the standoff with federal officials.
The Trump administration also faces internal doubts regarding its response to the shooting, with current and former ICE officials worrying the White House could be undermining confidence in its own investigation into the incident.
“I don’t know how we recover from this,” one administration official told POLITICO.
In a Sunday morning interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) criticized federal officials for saying Good committed an act of domestic terrorism, instead calling on them “to let the investigation take place without jumping to conclusions.”
“I think this is kind of an Orwellian circumstance, where we have got cities on edge all across America,” Warner said. “We wanted the border shut down, right? I agree with that. But sending ICE agents into community after community, where they’re perhaps not fully trained, puts us in, again, uncharted territory and not something I think the vast majority of American people want.”
Watch: The Conversation
20:23
The top 5 interview moments of 2025 | The Conversation
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” suggested there would be no true effort at the federal level to look into the incident, telling host Kristen Welker that “there’s not going to be an investigation” after Vice President JD Vance said Thursday the officer who killed Good “is protected by absolute immunity.”
GOP officials, on the other hand, largely fell in line with the administration’s position, with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that law enforcement officials “have the right to use lethal force, too, if they’re feeling threatened.”
Despite anti-ICE protests assembling across the country and state lawmakers attempting to rein in ICE following the shooting, the Trump administration doubled down on the surge of thousands of federal law enforcements to Minnesota, with Noem saying Sunday that “hundreds more” agents would be arriving in the state on Sunday and Monday.
Noem also quietly took steps to restrict congressional visits to immigration detention facilities just a day after the shooting, potentially contributing to three Democratic House members being denied entry to a facility in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that he had issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard for a possible deployment in response to the ICE protests.
Walz also called on demonstrators to remain peaceful, a plea echoed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a fellow Democrat, on Sunday.
“Violence is inappropriate in all of these situations, and, indeed, I have told the protesters, who are, in fact, a vast majority of peaceful protesters, ‘Keep the violence out of it,’” Pritzker said in an interview with Tapper on CNN.
“Make sure you’re peacefully protesting. Be loud for America — but make sure you’re not providing any excuse for the administration to try to send in National Guard,” he continued his message to protesters.
Most Read
- Day after Minneapolis shooting, Noem ordered new restriction on congressional oversight
- Trump ‘inclined’ to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after CEO response at White House meeting
- Tom Homan pleads with Minnesota leaders to tamp down ICE rhetoric
- ‘Highly problematic’: Trump admin faces internal doubts over ICE shooting response
- Judge blocks Trump administration from revoking immigration parole
Filed Under:
- Minnesota
- Minneapolis
- Department Of Homeland Security
- Immigration And Customs Enforcement
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Continue/Read Original Article Here: As Minneapolis ICE shooting draws national attention, local and federal leaders dig in their heels – POLITICO
