As William Buckley used to say, herewith a few thoughts…mine on the death of Renee Nicole Good and related events.
Minnesota’s state and local authorities — Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, to take only the leading figures — have all but explictly called for resistance to federal law enforcement in Minnesota. Walz, for example, has referred to ICE as the Gestapo and called for “a firewall” against it in Minnesota. Walz and fellow Democrats support a form of what was called “massive resistance” when Senator Harry Byrd sought to block the integration of public schools in the era of Southern segregation.
The Imimigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who confronted Ms. Good were operating lawfully to enforce United States immigration law. Ms. Good stopped her car diagonally on the south Minneapolis thoroughfare of Portland Avenue at the time of the encoutner. Is it disputed that she was on the scene to obstruct ICE? At best, she seems to have sought carelessly to exit the scene when the ICE agents approached her.
A highly organized left-wing resistance to the operation of ICE is at work in the state of Minnesota. Ms. Good appears to have been acting in support of the resistance at the time of her death. Susan Du reports on the resistance in the December 30 Star Tribune story “Inside the organized resistance to ICE in Minnesota.” The New York Post has more today here. The efforts of the organized resistance partake of mob rule.
As I say, state and local authorities have all but called for the resistance and, following their political logic, they have supported it. In the case of the death of Ms. Good, Walz, Ellison, and Frey have judged the ICE officer guilty of murder. Their contributions represent another episode of the “verdict first, trial later” mentality that we saw at work from each of them in the death of George Floyd. They and their statements are utterly irresonsible.
The Star Tribune has the names of six reporters on its story identifying the ICE officer who shot Ms. Good in the milliseconds when she drove toward him. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Star Tribune reporters in an email, noting that this specific agent was selected for ICE’s Special Response Team, that he is an expert marksman and “has been serving his country his entire life.”
McLaoghlin stated that agents have endured a massive surge in assaults and death threats as they perform their duties. “The Star Tribune should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for their reckless behavior, and they should delete their story immediately,” she said. The Star Tribune, however, is proud of it (just as it proudly conspired to violate federal grand jury secrecy to report the sealed indictments of three of Derek Chauvin’s colleagues a few days in advance of their unsealing).
The FBI is investigating the death of Ms. Good. Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been cut out of the case. The BCA will have no hand in the investigation and no access to the evidence gathered by the FBI. Under the cirsumsances, that is the way it should be.
The BCA is under Walz’s jurisdiction. We know what Walz thinks. He should not be in a position of authority over the investigation, the evidence, or the outcome of the investigation. He should go to hell.
The same thought applies to Ellison and Frey. Some form of federal immunity would apply to possible state charges against the ICE officer. Whatever it is, you can be sure it would not be respected by the likes of Keith Ellison or Mary Moriarty.
Look back in anger. Walz, Ellison, and Frey should have urged their constitutuents to protest, if they so wished, but without obstruction. They should have instructed their followers that federal law must be respected. It cannot be defied. If any of them had an ounce of decency, they would ponder the effects of their support of mob rule. Ms. Good’s death is the tragic result of the highly combustible environment that they themselves have fostered.
Frey operates Minneapolis as a sanctuary against the enforcement of immigration law. Walz and Ellison have sought to make Minnesota a sanctuary against the enforcement of immigration law. They have done everything in their power to bring it about but their wishing cannot make it so. They all support the lawlessness with which ICE is contending. And yet federal law applies in Minnesota. The defiance of state and local authorities holds no more sway now than it did in the era of segregation.
On September 30, 1962, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 11053 to provide “assistance for the removal of unlawful obstructions of justice in the State of Mississippi” in relation to integration of the University of Mississippi. The entire Mississippi National Guard (Army and Air) was placed on active federal service on the same day. The Mississippi National Guard called this period “Operation Rocky Road” while the United States Army called it the “Oxford Incident.” We’ve had too many Minneapolis incidents to denominate this one in the singular, but that’s what we have here.
