Millions of Americans and people worldwide mourned the tragic death of Minneapolis, Minnesota, resident and wife and mother of three children, Renee Good, whom a federal immigration agent fatally shot on January 7 mere blocks from her home. “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors,” Good’s wife, Becca Good, said in a statement first shared with Minnesota Public Radio. “We had whistles. They had guns.” Ms. Good, who was in her late thirties, referred to herself as a “poet, writer, wife and mother” who was “experiencing Minneapolis” on her social media pages. A Colorado native, Good had recently moved to Minneapolis–Saint Paul, where she resided with her six-year-old son and Becca. Becca was steps outside the car when she was murdered. Mind you, this was the same city where George Floyd , a 46 year old Black man was murdered by former police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was sentenced to 20 years for the crime.

Almost immediately, an aggressive GoFundMe campaign was started in support of Good’s widow and son. The initially requested figure of $50,000 was easily surpassed. By Friday, January 9, the campaign had received $1.5 million. Donors from numerous nations and every continent wrote messages about Good and offered unwavering assistance to her family. Some referred to Good as “fearless” for “doing the right thing and standing up for others in these politically perilous times.” Others denounced the Trump administration’s expansive nationwide immigration enforcement operations in mostly Democratic-led states and cities.

Commentary on Good’s death was unsurprisingly split along political lines. “Renee Nicole Good was a mother of three, including a 6-year-old boy who is now an orphan,” Minnesota’s Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said in a statement. “Renee was deeply loved by many . . . by refusing to coordinate with local law enforcement, ICE is not making our community safe. It is making it less safe.” Additionally, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison described the ICE agents’ actions as an “escalation” and said Good was trying to get away from the situation without being aggressive. “I think the use of force I saw raises such serious questions that there needs to be an intense investigation and perhaps this officer should face charges,” Ellison said. “But that needs to be determined through an investigation.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stated, “The killing of Renee Nicole Good was an abomination - a disgrace . . . And blood is clearly on the hands of those individuals within the administration who’ve been pushing an extreme policy that has nothing to do with immigration enforcement connected to removing violent felons from this country.”  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also decried the fatal shooting, “You felt like your stomach was being punched. Looking at the video [of the shooting], there seemed no justification for what these agents did. There needs to be a full investigation at the federal level, though I have little faith in the FBI in doing a fair investigation.”

The commentary on the right took a largely contrasting tone. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued that Good had committed an “act of domestic terrorism.” The department released a statement characterizing the late Good as a “violent rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” President Trump claimed absurdly that the officer who shot Good barely survived the incident and was “recovering in the hospital.” “I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making,” Vice President J.D. Vance alleged. He stated that Good was a member of the “lunatic fringe” and a part of a “left-wing network” targeting federal agents. While making these wild accusations, Vance targeted the “media” for casting supposedly unfounded aspersions upon the ICE agent who shot Good, Jonathan Ross. Instead of calling him out as a murderer, he ridiculously declared that Ross was owed “a debt of gratitude.”

Far-right-wing Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) said on Newsmax that “if you get in the way of the government repelling a foreign invasion, you’re gonna end up just like that lady did yesterday.” Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) argued that her death was “completely avoidable” had she only complied with ICE instructions. “The bottom line is this: When a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep your life.” Matt Walsh, the popular right-wing podcaster, wrote, “This lesbian agitator gave her life to protect 68 IQ Somali scammers who couldn’t give less of a shit about her. The most disgraceful and humiliating end a person could possibly meet.” Rep Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), chair of the House GOP, defended the killing: “This is what happens when Democrats continue to DEMONIZE LAW ENFORCEMENT. Praying for all our brave ICE agents who are working to keep us safe.” Routinely irascible Fox News host Jesse Watters perversely and inexplicably chose to focus on the fact that Good was a supposed troublemaker and member of the LGBTQIA+ community who “leaves behind a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage.”

There are those who argue that the tragedy has received considerable attention and a notable degree of compassion form many segments of society due to the fact that Renee Good was a White woman and a blonde one at that. Did Ms. Good’s race, gender and physical attributes play a role in the outpouring of empathy she has received? To be sure, such realities could very well be true. The attractive, missing White woman syndrome is hardly a mythical proposition

Varied assumptions aside, the outright falsehoods about the Minneapolis incident the Trump administration and the right-wing media echo chamber are manufacturing are problematic for many reasons. Such misinformation espouses the bogus perception that federal agents are in an ongoing state of physical jeopardy from unhinged protestors and citizens and thus have every right to employ lethal force at the most minimal assumption of harm. It also reassures federal agents they can inflict violence upon or even murder American citizens with impunity and sends an ominous message to individuals inclined to take to the streets to express their displeasure toward the Trump administration’s immigration policies that they can be easily exposed to various types of potentially lethal situations.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted groups of color and politically and economically marginalized populations such as Haitians, Somalis, Mexicans, and transgender people in a gross abuse of power. Such antics are distressing and dangerous because wanton government harassment of such groups can eventually trickle down to others, including everyday citizens. Eventually, no one will be immune.

The issue of ICE and immigration will likely continue to fester, with politicians of every stripe and sizable segments of the larger public retreating to bipartisan positions. Nevertheless, heavy patrolling and occupation by federal agents in our nation’s cities, targeting our nation’s citizens and engaging in Gestapo-like tactics, is disturbing, alarming, and unsettling. It sets a harrowingly precarious and politically dark and menacing precedent for the nation’s future.