The family of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman shot dead by an ICE officer in January, is suing the officials who ran Trump's immigration crackdown under the Ku Klux Klan Act, the Reconstruction-era law written to protect civilians from the infamous white supremacist organisation.
Her widow, Becca Good, her parents and her siblings filed two federal lawsuits on Thursday. One holds the United States liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for wrongful death, battery, assault, false imprisonment, emotional distress and negligence.
The second, a 149-page complaint, accuses senior officials of a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights. It names the ICE officer who shot her, Jonathan Ross, along with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan, Corey Lewandowski, then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons, former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and 10 unnamed federal agents.
It alleges they used Operation Metro Surge to deny Minnesota's Somali and Hispanic communities equal protection under the law, and to intimidate, arrest or use force against people who watched, filmed or warned others about the operation. The 1871 Act reaches conspiracies by people who go "in disguise on the highway" to deprive others of their rights. Good had stopped to watch.
Good, 37, was in the driver's seat of her SUV at 34th Street and Portland Avenue on 7 January, where she had stopped to watch an ICE operation. Ross fired at least three times into the car as she drove away. Cellphone video shows her turning the wheel away from the officers before the shots, rebuking the official explanation by the Department of Homeland Security.
"Ross was at no point in danger from the vehicle," the family's complaint says. It alleges that he stepped out of the SUV's path, then leaned towards it, drew his gun and fired.
Trump and Noem said at the time that Good was an agitator who tried to run the officer over, and Noem called her a "domestic terrorist". Witnesses told NBC News that Ross did not appear to be in the SUV's path, as mentioned, this was verified through video of the incident.
Nine months on, no one has been charged. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office and the Minnesota Attorney General's Office are still investigating. Our ICE List team at Crust News is looking into reports of Jonathan Ross's whereabouts. The killer has been redeployed to the field in a different state, with conflicting reports making his current base of operations unclear.
"I stand here with fierce determination to do what is right for my sister," said her brother, Brent Ganger. The family is represented by Antonio Romanucci, of the Chicago firm Romanucci and Blandin.
The case follows the same pattern as the shooting of Wilber Garces Perez in Austin last week: a driver moving away, an officer who says he was in danger, and video that does not show any danger. Garces Perez survived, and the Justice Department has charged him with assaulting the officer who shot him in the back. If Renee had survived, would they be charging her with assault for continuing to breathe?
