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Days after the shooting of Renée Good, ICE agents detained a five-year-old asylum seeker and fatally shot a 37-year-old healthcare professional. Local officials are calling for government intervention as fear spreads throughout the Minnesota community.
In the span of a several days the situation in Minnesota has escalated as ICE agents expand their reign of terror. After the shooting of US citizen Renée Good it was hoped senseless killing would at least come to a halt, but lack of government response and mounting tension within US communities has only aided the unravelling chaos we’ve seen in the Northern state.
Last week, Liam Conejo Ramos, just 5, was taken into custody along with his father. A photo of the young boy being detained on his way home from preschool went viral as high-profile figures began pushing back against ICE on social media.
Liam is pictured wearing his Spiderman backpack, which is held firmly by a masked federal agent, as he stands before the open door of a black SUV. The vehicle was used to transport Liam and his father to a plane and later a detention facility in Texas.
The shocking image of such a young child sparked renewed outrage over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown. Liam and his family are originally from Ecuador – a country with an extremely unstable economic and social situation – and presented themselves to border officials when seeking asylum in 2024.
‘These are not illegal aliens,’ said the family’s lawyer, Marc Prokosch. ‘They were following all the established protocols, pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and posed no safety, no flight risk and never should have been detained.’
But ICE officials argue they had ‘no other choice’ in the matter. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said: ‘The law requires those in the country illegally claiming fearing to be detained pending removal. You can look it up in the statute.’
The federal government has repeatedly said it is targeting ‘violent criminals’ and ‘the worst of the worst’ in its crackdowns. But innocent victims have been caught in the crossfire. At this point, if anyone is enacting violent criminal behaviour, it’s ICE itself.
Just weeks after Renée Good’s murder, another US citizen named Alex Pretti was shot dead in broad daylight by ICE agents. As it was in Good’s case, the incident was captured by local bystanders and has triggered further outrage as well as heated debates between federal officials and local state government.
Not that a person’s background, job, or identity should be used to defend their right to live – but Pretti was an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. His last words were spoken to a woman who had been tackled to the ground; ‘Are you okay?’
This was not a violent criminal by any stretch of the imagination. And yet a gaggle of ICE officers surrounded Pretti, forced him to the ground, beat and restrained him and then opened fire.
