Renée Good had just died. Hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot the Minneapolis protester on January 7, Kristi Noem, then the secretary of homeland security, said Good had been engaged in "domestic terrorism." She had "weaponize[d] her vehicle," Noem claimed, and "attempted to run a law enforcement officer over." President Donald Trump soon chimed in, averring that Good "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer" and that "it is hard to believe he is alive."
A couple of weeks later, a U.S. Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer fatally shot another Minneapolis protester, Alex Pretti. Noem promptly claimed that Pretti had been "brandishing" a gun and had "attacked those officers." A statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) portrayed him as a would-be murderer who "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement." Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R–Okla.), who would later replace Noem as DHS secretary, echoed that assessment the day of the shooting, describing Pretti as "a deranged individual" who "came in to cause max damage."
