Those who shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti killed not only their intended targets. They seem to have killed, or to have least put on life support, the capacity of federal, state, and local leaders on both sides of the controversy to think or speak responsibly. Now, more than ever, fact-based reason is required to make sense of these tragedies and reduce the chances that future tragedies may occur. Both the application of due process and the rule of law and the modification of existing policies, especially to narrow ICE’s scope of targets, are necessary to avoid future chaos.
Following the killing of Renee Goode, the single most intelligent reaction was initially that of Tom Homan, President Trump’s “Border Czar.” He said:
“The investigation has just started. I’m not gonna make a judgment call on one video when there’s a hundred videos out there…It’d be unprofessional to comment on what I think happened in that situation. Let the investigation play out and hold people accountable based on the investigation…What good is it to do right now to prejudge the facts of what happened without giving the law enforcement professionals, whether it’s the FBI or the local police there…time to look at all the videos, talk to all of the witnesses, talk to the officers, and make an educated decision on what occurred today?”
Unfortunately, Homan soon walked his statement back, saying that having seen Good-related videos, he had concluded the shooting was justified. He was right the first time.
Others were even less judicious. Vice President JD Vance said that the killing of Good was “a tragedy of her own making.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has denounced both Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists.” On the other hand, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other administration critics have bluntly said that those who killed Good and Pretti were “murderers.”
When I was on the Stephenville city council, I worked with our police by going on ride-alongs, serving on the council’s public safety committee, and participating in the Leadership Stephenville and the Citizens Police Academy programs. The greatest take-away, I thought, was that the perspective of a police officer engaged in conflict with criminal suspects and others while on duty is likely to differ radically from that of a bystander or someone studying the incident after the fact. The officer may have to make life-and-death decisions within a split second; the after-the-fact reviewer has the luxury of time within which to second-guess the police officer. Hence, while recognizing the need to hold law enforcement officers accountable for whatever illegal actions they may take, I’m probably more likely than many to accord the police the benefit of the doubt as well.
Nonetheless, the videos broadcast on local and network news programs raise legitimate doubts about what really happened, as opposed to what ICE, DHS Secretary Noem, and ICE’s other supporters say what happened. In her final seconds of life, for example, Renee Good seemed to be what her supporters claim she was—a benign housewife who had just dropped her children off at school. And although DHS Secretary Noem claims that Pretti was advancing on ICE agents with a loaded gun, and violently resisted their attempts to disarm him, the video seems to show that he was brandishing not a gun (for which he had a legal permit) but a cellphone, that ICE agents did, in fact, disarm him (albeit during a struggle), but that he was shot 10 times after he was disarmed.
Perhaps the worst that could be said of Good and Pretti was that they were well-meaning people who unwisely chose to put themselves in the wrong places at the wrong times, which led to their unfortunate deaths. But were they actually murdered? The videos tell part of the story, but no final judgment should be made until the videos, and other relevant evidence, are examined by professionals within a framework of due process and accountability for all.
In the meantime, while the cases are being responsibly (one hopes) investigated and, if need be, adjudicated to determine who should be held accountable for what, our leaders should dial back their rhetoric and allow the processes to take their courses, while making changes in their policies to make them more palatable and durable.
President Trump and his administration deserve credit for securing our southern border and for vigorously tracking, catching, and deporting illegal aliens with records of criminal violence. He’s also wisely recognized that mass expulsion of illegals will cause severe labor shortages in the building, agricultural, and hospitality industries. ICE maintains that it prioritizes the capture of known criminals over everyone else, and Trump should direct ICE to make the capture, incarceration, and expulsion of criminals its main priority, while leaving those who came here illegally—but who aren’t otherwise causing trouble—alone. This policy is both far more rational and humane. And those who aren’t impressed by appeals to rationality and humanity should also recognize that such a policy will also shore up Trump’s popularity before the midterm elections hit: Top GOP strategist Karl Rove has noted that most of the public dislike criminals and thus approve of ICE’s efforts to remove them. But the public dislikes what it considers to be the persecution of aliens who are here illegally, yet who are otherwise peaceful, law abiding, and productive contributors to society.
And Walz, Frey, and their allies are correct to argue that anti-ICE demonstrators are well within their constitutional rights to observe ICE agents in action, to video them, and to protest their presence. But they must put more emphasis on the obvious difference between protesting actions they dislike, and actually interjecting themselves into the actions. Moreover, they should direct state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE or at least prevent anti-ICE demonstrators from crossing the line between permissible observation to potentially fatal intervention in ICE’s legitimate activities.
The vigorous enforcement of our immigration laws will remain a hallmark of the government at least for the duration of the Trump administration. Responsible action by our leaders on both sides of the divide is required now, more than ever. Otherwise, an overly harsh enforcement policy now, coupled with an overly resistant policy to ICE, will produce more shootings, killings, and divisions within society for well into the foreseeable future.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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