House Oversight Committee Democrats released a report on Tuesday blaming the Trump administration’s “extreme” law enforcement for the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and accusing the federal government of a “cover-up” by obstructing impartial investigations into their deaths.
The report, released by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel, said that the administration’s “extreme policies, violent tactics, and culture of impunity” led to the fatal shooting of the two Minneapolis residents by Department of Homeland Security officers last month.
“The fatal shootings of Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti were not isolated incidents,” the report said. “They are the direct result of the rapid and intentional escalation of violence by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its ongoing efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, and to suppress dissent with no regard for Americans’ constitutional rights.”
The report specifically points to efforts to obscure the identities of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents, including wearing masks, which administration officials have said is necessary to protect their safety.
“Let’s be clear: the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti could have been prevented, and they should both still be alive,” Garcia said in a press release announcing the findings of the report. “President Trump, Kristi Noem, and DHS have lied over and over again and are now trying to cover up the truth. The Trump Administration needs to be held accountable.”
The report also calls out Vice President JD Vance and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who “have incorrectly assured agents that they have ‘absolute immunity’ from criminal prosecution.” Vance has since walked back his claim, saying officers would be disciplined for violating policies.
The administration, the report said, is trying to cover up misconduct by “impeding thorough and impartial investigations into the shootings.”
The Justice Department last week announced it is pursuing a civil rights probe into Pretti’s killing on Jan. 24 by Border Patrol officers, after initially leaving it up to DHS to conduct its own investigations, as MS NOW reported.
The DOJ has maintained that it will not do the same for Good’s death. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7.
The reversal is one of several changes that the Trump administration has made in its hardline approach to immigration enforcement after the fatal shootings of Pretti and Good, which sparked nationwide protests.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said Monday that all officers will be outfitted with body cameras in Minneapolis, and as funding allows, nationwide.
Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday dismissed the rollout of body cameras as “damage control” and urged Minnesotans to continue documenting federal officers’ conduct.
“Keep filming. Keep keeping track of this,” he said at a news conference. “Keep accountability.”
Bystander footage of both shootings has been crucial to showing how Good’s and Pretti’s encounters with federal officers ended with their death. Videos of both incidents have also contradicted the Trump administration’s account of events.
Good and Pretti’s families have strongly denounced the federal immigration operation in Minneapolis. Good’s brother, Luke Ganger, told reporters on Tuesday that his family initially “took some consolation thinking that perhaps Renee’s death would bring about change in our country. It has not.”
‘The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation,” he said. “This is not just a bad day or a rough week or isolated incidents. These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives — including ours — forever.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.