Democratic lawmakers allege that a “culture of impunity” is what led to the killings of two Americans in Minnesota by federal agents last month.
A report released Tuesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee blamed “extreme policies, violent tactics, and culture of impunity” for the killing of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti during confrontations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“The Trump administration’s lies about the killings cannot cover up what the American people saw with their own eyes,” the report said. “The Administration has embarked on a campaign to terrorize American communities with impunity, not an effort to deport violent criminals or to fairly enforce U.S. immigration law.”
Good and Pretti were both killed in Minneapolis last month in separate incidents when anti-ICE protesters intervened in ICE enforcement actions.
The deaths of the protesters galvanized opposition to President Trump’s mass deportations and helped congressional Democrats force the administration into a defensive posture on illegal immigration.
The Trump administration, however, insists that the mission to deport illegal immigrants who are hardened criminals has broad support.
The Democrats’ report also accused administration officials of “attempting to cover up misconduct” and perpetuating the cover-up by “impeding thorough and impartial investigations into the shootings.”
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said Mr. Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem need to be held accountable.
“Let’s be clear: the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti could have been prevented, and they should both still be alive. President Trump, Kristi Noem, and DHS have lied over and over again and are now trying to cover up the truth,” he said.
The White House on Tuesday stood by the federal agents.
“Federal law enforcement officers are heroically removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities —including murderers, rapists, and pedophiles,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “The Trump administration is grateful for their important work.”
In accusing the administration of “lying,” the report cited Vice President J.D. Vance saying the death of Good was a “tragedy of her own making” and then-commander-at-large of Border Patrol Gregory Bovino saying Pretti “put himself in that position.”
The Democrats said the Trump administration covered up misconduct by ICE agents and then “sidelined independent investigators, shut out state authorities, and insisted that a DHS-led internal administrative review would be sufficient.”
“These conditions resulted in the violent shootings of two Americans in the span of two weeks. Then, in the face of evidence that these slain Americans posed no threat to federal officers or intended to kill them, Trump administration officials lied to the public and tried to paint Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti as domestic terrorists,” it said.
