The ICE agent at the center of the fatal Minneapolis encounter has spoken after supporters donated thousands of dollars to him.
As the Minneapolis community mourned the loss of Renee Good, ICE officer Jonathan Ross received a stream of donations, thus intensifying public outrage over the incident.
New details about Jonathan have also surfaced, including claims about him hiding his real profession from neighbors.
ICE agent Jonathan Ross spoke up after supporters donated thousands of dollars to him
Days after Jonathan Ross fatally struck Renee Good, multiple crowdfunding campaigns were launched to raise money for the ICE agent.
More than $570,000 has been raised so far, with over $204,000 coming from a GiveSendGo campaign and over $370,000 from a GoFundMe page.
Jonathan expressed gratitude for the support to Jacob Wells, the co-founder of GiveSendGo, which is a controversial crowdfunding platform popular among far-right extremists, white supremacists, and hate groups.
“I just got off the phone with the ICE agent involved in this horrible situation. He is extremely appreciative of the support from all of you,” Jacob wrote on social media. “We will be releasing funds soon to him so he doesn’t have to worry about his family’s or his safety.”
The GiveSendGo fundraiser set up for Jonathan referred to Renee as a “radical leftist agitator” who was getting in the way of the ICE agents.
“In the frozen streets of Minneapolis, our fearless ICE agents were out doing the job the invaders and their enablers hate most: rounding up and deporting illegal aliens who have no right to be flooding our nation, draining resources, and threatening our sovereignty,” read the GiveSendGo description.
The fundraiser claimed Jonathan was in the middle of a “high-stakes operation to purge these lawbreaking parasites” when he shot Renee
“Their vehicles got stuck in the snow during a high-stakes operation to purge these lawbreaking parasites from our soil,” the message continued.
The fundraiser claimed that Renee “weaponized her car” at the time.
She was “accelerating straight at our agents in a blatant act of domestic terrorism aimed at k*lling or maiming the men protecting our borders from the endless invasion,” the message continued.
The incident has deeply divided the community, with federal officials defending Jonathan’s actions and saying he was simply doing his job. Meanwhile, state and local authorities refuse to accept the self-defense narrative and question ICE’s use of brute force.
Jonathan, an Iraqi war veteran, returned from deployment in 2005 and joined the Border Patrol in 2007.
It is believed he married his Asian wife in 2012 and began living on the outskirts of Minneapolis in 2015. He became an ICE deportation officer the same year.
“The wife is polite, very nice, very outgoing, while he’s very reserved. They have a couple of kids,” a resident living in Jonathan’s 10-house cul-de-sac told the Daily Mail.
Neighbors said Jonathan lied to them about his profession and didn’t tell them he was an ICE officer
A woman living in Jonathan’s neighborhood said she was stunned to see him in the news for fatally striking a woman.
She said she had no idea Jonathan was an ICE agent and claimed he lied to her about his real profession.
Describing Jonathan as someone who keeps to himself, the woman said she met him at a neighborhood garage party in 2020.
“He said he worked with plants, as a botanist, so he lied about what he did,” she told People.
They had no idea he was a federal agent until the disturbing incident hit the news.
“[He said he] enjoyed border control… but loved plants,” she said.
“So when I found out he was the one on the news, I said, ‘What! That’s so crazy!’ I had no idea he was an ICE agent,” she added.
The woman said she assumed all ICE agents were “from Texas and Arizona and Florida” and couldn’t believe there was one living in her neighborhood.
“It really creeps me out that those are my neighbors — that that’s the kind of people I live next to. It’s really upsetting,” she said.
“That’s the kind of people I live next to. It’s really upsetting,” a woman said about Jonathan
Following the incident, the woman said she saw agents moving Jonathan’s belongings outside of his residence and said there had been safety patrols in the area.
She believes the residents in her neighborhood have been “impacted” by the incident.
“People really haven’t been talking about it because you just want to maintain some peace on the road,” she said. “You don’t want to start fights. But it’s just really hard to process. And then every day, you hear about more people getting detained.”
Renee left behind a wife and three children, including a 6-year-old son who lost his father a few years ago.
A GoFundMe page was launched to raise funds for Renee, amassing over $1.5 million since her passing.
Billionaire Bill Ackman said he donated money to the fundraiser for the ICE officer
Billionaire Bill Ackman revealed on social media that he donated money to the fundraiser for Jonathan.
“I am big believer in our legal principal [sic] that one is innocent until proven guilty,” he said.
He noted that he attempted to “similarly support” Renee’s family but said, “her GoFundMe was closed by the time [he] attempted to provide support.”
The billionaire hedge fund manager called the whole situation “a tragedy” involving “an officer doing his best to do his job, and a protester who likely did not intend to k*ll the officer but whose actions in a split second led to her d**th.”
“Our country is stronger if we work together to resolve the complex issues that are tearing us apart,” he added.
“People trying to make him some kind of hero…” one commented on the fundraisers for Jonathan Ross
