The event was not an isolated episode. The Washington Post on Friday reported the January 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, while in ICE custody, citing a medical examiner who believes his death to be a homicide. A fellow detainee said he witnessed Luna Campos being choked by guards.
Such incidents have come to characterise what is now the most aggressive immigration enforcement surge the city – and perhaps the country – has seen in decades.
The day before Good was killed, Washington announced the deployment of roughly 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. In the days following her death, an additional 1,000 officers from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were deployed to the city, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hailing its “largest immigration operation ever.”
Caught in the chaos of a raid, Minneapolis City Council president Elliott Payne said the presence of heavily armed agents in combat gear felt “like an occupying force”.
Rather than de-escalate, Trump has threatened to go further. On Thursday, he raised the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops in response to civil unrest.
“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump wrote on social media, promising to “quickly put an end to the travesty”.
A minor pretext for a massive show of force
The starting point of the escalation was relatively innocuous. The Trump administration initially alleged financial irregularities involving Somali-run daycare centres in Minnesota as justification for the first raids. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, estimated at around 84,000, most of whom are US citizens.
The decision to target the Somali community echoed Trump’s own rhetoric. In December, he said Somalis should not be welcome in the United States, comparing them to “garbage”. DHS reinforced the message in a post on X announcing the end of a temporary protected status: “Our message is clear. Go back to your own country, or we’ll send you back ourselves.”
What followed bore little resemblance to a targeted investigation. Residents reported agents sweeping through residential neighbourhoods and the parking lots of big-box stores, stopping people seemingly at random to demand their immigration status. “Masked men” broke into a north Minneapolis home without a judicial warrant, arresting a 38-year-old Liberian man as his wife and 9-year-old stepdaughter were inside, local public radio outlet MPR News reported.
Operation “Metro Surge” has brought together a rarely seen patchwork of agencies far from the border: three-quarters are from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, AP reported, working alongside agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).
This blending of uniforms, mandates and chains of command made it nearly impossible for civilians to know who was stopping them, under what authority, and what rights they retained.
A symbolically progressive city
The scale of coordination reflects a strategy first developed at the southern border. Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, Trump declared a national emergency at the border, triggering a significant mobilisation involving DHS, ICE, CBP, the National Guard and US Northern Command.
With the events in Minnesota, the same emergency logic and the same mix of civilian and quasi-military forces are now being applied hundreds of miles from the border.
Minneapolis is the most dramatic example so far, but not the only one. Federal immigration surges have already taken place or are planned in cities including Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, New York and Los Angeles.
Trump has shown little interest in calming tensions, using florid and almost biblical language to describe the continuing operation.
“FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA,” he wrote on Truth Social. “THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
Immigration attorney Scott Shuchart says Minnesota offered a perfect opportunity for the Trump administration, which was looking for an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act as Trump has threatened to do.
“The administration has been trying to pick this fight, trying to find a place [resisting] enough to have an excuse to declare an insurrection and use more force,” Shuchart said. “Minneapolis was the next target. It’s ideal for them – it has a large Somali immigrant population, and there is [Minnesota Representative] Ilhan Omar, whom Trump hates. His people are very angry and, frankly, racist.”
Unlike law enforcement agents like police, who are trained in de-escalation tactics, ICE officers appear to relish doing the opposite.
“They are escalating rather than de-escalating,” Shuchart added. “They need this. They don’t want unity: disunity is good for them. Trump has never tried to be more popular or to appeal to the other side. By continuing to feel victimised, he empowers himself politically.”
Minneapolis represents both a symbolic and strategic target: it’s a Democratic stronghold, a “sanctuary city” where local authorities limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and a place still nationally associated with protests against police violence over the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Minnesota is also governed by Tim Walz, the Democrats’ 2024 vice-presidential nominee.
According to DHS, the surge is part of a nationwide push to fulfil Trump’s promise to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in American history. ICE has more than doubled its manpower in less than a year, from roughly 10,000 officers to more than 22,000, driven by an aggressive recruitment campaign.
To staff that expansion, barriers to entry have been lowered. Deportation officers must be US citizens, pass a background check and drug screening, and meet basic physical requirements. The job requires carrying a firearm and explicitly authorises the use of deadly force “when necessary”.
“New recruits often have minimal education and abbreviated preparation. The danger is that it attracts people who are more loyal to Trump than to professional law enforcement,” said Shuchart, citing far-right, pro-Trump militias such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
That broader lack of professionalism has fed into another flashpoint in the operation: the use of masks by immigration agents. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons said the practice is intended to prevent officers from being doxxed. But it actually “spurs dangerous impersonations, impedes accountability for officers who are engaged in misconduct, and undermines trust in law enforcement”, the Center for American Progress argued in a report released on August 2025, when hundreds of officers from nearly 20 federal agencies were deployed to the streets of Washington.
In a confidential bulletin circulated to law enforcement agencies last month, the FBI even warned that criminals across several states have been posing as ICE officers to commit robberies, kidnappings and sexual assaults.
A deliberate media blur
The confusion has been amplified online. High-profile right-wing influencers were granted privileged access to operations, blurring the line between the administration, law enforcement agents and partisan media.
Figures with large followings, including “Dr Phil” McGraw and Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik, were repeatedly invited on ride-alongs and allowed to interview senior officials, producing content that framed enforcement actions as necessary and heroic. ICE’s own social media accounts actively promoted the operation, which the Washington Post has described as a broader “media machine” designed to project strength and deter resistance.
Pro-Trump influencer Benny Johnson went even further, wearing a Border Patrol tactical vest to observe a raid at a Walmart in the Chicago area alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. In a video posted on X, he praised the operation as “amazing”, highlighting what he called “wild scenes”.
In the video below please notice the 8:17 mark how the little Nazi Bovino leads a large group of armed masked thugs into a crowd of people expecting and demanding they move aside for the gang thugs ICE rather than the ICE thugs respect the people. They are filming it and hoping that one person will refuse to move so they can attack them as a pack and use it to claim ICE needs more authority along with the military. This is pure little person bullied on the playground with his big brothers to back him up making all the other little kids move aside for him in fear. This is the country they want to create and so far they are getting it. Hugs
Sam and Emma talk to David Dayen about the fact that the left / progressive members of democrats in congress and how Chuck Schumer is trying to quiet that side of the party. Dayen is a political analyst. He claims that the leadership of the Democratic Party is refusing to use this moment to use ICE actions as reason to use the only leverage they have, the budget battle. Schumer caved the first time, he caved the second time, and has no stomach for even starting this time. He wants to just fill out his time as majority leader knowing he likely won’t be elected again and get as many high end donors as possible to set himself up as wealthy in private life. We need different leadership. But right now we need the public to push the party if possible. We need the democrats in office publicly going on TV and pounding the table over this. Hugs.
I just posted a video from Hasan Piker on the same topic. However some people prefer verified news sources instead of podcasters, so here is another discussion of the NYT frame by frame breakdown of the videos by the reporter and Anderson Cooper. Again showing that Ross’s torso is several feet from the car and he was in no danger until he murdered Renee Good. Hugs
This is a playing of the New York Times breakdown of the videos of the Renee Good murder by Jonathan Ross. In a frame by frame slow down the video that the right claims shows that Ross was struck by Good’s car instead clearly shows that his torso was several feet away from her bumper. He was not struck by the car. He was not in danger. As he was not in danger why did he shoot. He was angry and out of control because a lesbian insulted him and another lesbian made his life harder so knowing he would face no consequence for his actions and had no restraint on what he could do he acted on his anger. This has happened many times with ICE already and will continue until these people face consequences for their actions.
The border patrol guidelines had to be changed because so many officers were shooting people in frustration using the excuse they were in danger after they deliberately moved in front of cars. Ross knew this, he used the same excuse that they had to make a rule against doing because he was so angry and frustrated. He shouldn’t have been on duty or be allowed to carry a weapon! Hugs
Just like fundamentalist evangelical Christians maga thugs can not be reasoned with, they are on a mission from their god tRump to protect the goal of the cult. They act similar in that they attack anyone who displays a difference to their preconceived view of how things should be according to their religious leaders. They feel an intense desire, no need to destroy any dissent and make everyone conform, by force if necessary. So Renee good presents a threat to their view of how things should be. She doesn’t conform. She is not straight but is a lesbian. She did not immediately bow to the authority and whims of the cult leader, and she seems to support the rights of minorities which the cult feels is harmful to the white straight cis majority. So maga thugs attack without thinking in a pack as that is how they are trained as school yard bullies and they never grew out of it. Hugs
People gather during a vigil for Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent, in Seattle, Washington, U.S., January 8, 2026. REUTERS/David Ryder
The tiny charter school where slain mother Renee Good sent her 6-year-old son has been forced to conduct classes online after receiving a slew of threats following her fatal shooting by an immigration officer.
The threats started pouring in to Southside Family Charter School after the New York Post reported on the school’s focus on social justice and right-wing social media accounts identified the school where Good had dropped off her son shortly before encountering the federal agent who shot and killed her, reported Sahan Journal.
“The attacks and threats to our school have been very hurtful, especially at this painful moment,” school officials told the Journal. “At the same time, we have received much support from our community. This moment has been painful but it has also brought us closer as a community.”
Southside Family Charter School, where Good served on the school board, was founded in the 1970s and became a charter school in 2006, but its enrollment dropped from 119 students last year to just 26 this year after it transitioned from a K-8 to a K-5 program.
“Staff and students prepare and eat meals together,” a school spokeswoman said. “Older students mentor younger students regularly and learn with them as well. Visiting artists and field trips are part of our curriculum.”
Conservative outlets and social media users seized on the school’s social justice curriculum after Good was killed, complaining that students learned about George Floyd’s police murder and staffers were urged to report ICE activity, and a sign notified immigration officers they were not permitted to enter the building without a judicial warrant.
“Our school is responding consistently with how most schools in the area are responding,” school leaders officials said.
Right-wing social media users claimed the school’s focus on social justice was evidence that Good was a domestic terrorist, as Trump administration officials have claimed to justify her killed by a federal agent.
“I’m calling for all federal funds to Minnesota’s Southside Family Charter School to be REVOKED,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) posted on Facebook. “This institution radicalizes students and pushes a left-wing agenda that demonizes ICE agents. The federal government should not subsidize anti-American education.”
A TikTok video viewed more than 100,000 times suggested Good was “trained to fight federal agents” by her son’s school, while others mocked her as “the epitome of the modern-day liberal white woman” and questioned her decision to enroll her son there.
The school eventually shut down its Facebook page and took down most of its online presence in response to the threats.
“At this time we would like to ask the community and members of the media to understand this is a very difficult and painful time for our school community and for Renee’s family,” school leaders said. “We would kindly ask everyone to respect our privacy and allow us the necessary time to grieve. We appreciate the community’s compassion, support, and understanding as we mourn together.”
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