The FBI Passes On ICE Killings
Has the Bureau Abandoned Victims, Communities and Partners?
July has been a deadly month for immigrants who cross paths with ICE agents on roving deportation patrols. In a surreal and sickening echo of last January in Minnesota, ICE and Border Patrol teams in Texas and Maine have killed two unarmed immigrants who were quietly on their way to work. These are the latest fatalities in a series of 22 shootings involving immigration agents conducting enforcement actions during Trump’s second term. Six of these 22 citizens and immigrants died. As this administration’s push for mass deportations persists, and the fatalities mount, we have seen almost no involvement by the FBI and Department of Justice.
It is the FBI’s responsibility to investigate law enforcement killings when they have information that indicates an officer may have used his or her official authority to violate a person’s civil rights. Some FBI agents spend their entire careers conducting these “color of law” cases. It is the Department of Justice’s responsibility to oversee and prosecute cases in which law enforcement officers violate civil rights through excessive force, false arrests, and other deprivations of constitutional rights. But recent cases show that instead of investigating the officers responsible for these killings, the FBI is hoarding evidence, frustrating local efforts to seek justice, and vilifying the victims as terrorists. This leaves communities grieving, and local law enforcement questioning their long-time partnerships with the Bureau.
On January 7, 2026, Renee Good, an unarmed US citizen and mother of three, stopped her vehicle on a snowy Minneapolis street partially obstructing the flow of traffic. After exchanging words with an ICE agent, Good pulled her SUV forward to leave the area. She was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross and died at the scene.
DHS publicly misrepresented the incident and falsely labeled Good as a domestic terrorist, despite the fact that numerous videos of the shooting raised serious questions about Agent Ross’ use of lethal force. The FBI seized all relevant evidence, and initiated an investigation to determine if Good committed an assault on Ross. The FBI then refused to cooperate with the District Attorney’s office efforts to investigate the killing. Minnesota officials were forced to sue the FBI to gain access to the evidence.
On January 24, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and US citizen, was shot by two immigration agents after coming to the assistance of an unarmed female bystander who was thrown to the ground by an agent conducting an immigration action in Minneapolis. Pretti was lawfully carrying a handgun at the time, but was disarmed by the agents before they shot him. Like the Renee Good case, DHS issued misleading statements about Pretti, which were later contradicted by video evidence. The FBI seized all evidence from the crime scene, opened a case investigating Pretti, and refused to cooperate with the District Attorney’s inquiry into the killing.
On July 7, 52-year-old Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by ICE agents while driving his van to work in Houston. Video of the shooting clearly shows Salgado bringing his van to a stop as several masked immigration officers approach the sides of the van. One eye witness later stated that Salgado was shot through the passenger side door window. ICE issued a public statement asserting that Salgado, “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” The FBI processed the crime scene, opened an investigation into whether Salgado assaulted a federal officer, and denied the local district attorney access to the evidence.
On July 13, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old husband and father from Columbia, was shot by ICE and Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop in Biddeford, Maine. DHS initially stated that the agents were surveilling Guerrero’s residence, but later reversed course and stated that Guerrero was not the intended target of the immigration action. DHS claimed that Guerrero’s “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.” They did not, however, explain why someone they were not looking for “fled” the scene, and how he could possibly have threatened public safety. ICE agents fired through Guerrero’s windshield, killing him and sending his vehicle rolling down the street. The FBI processed the crime scene and stated that it had opened an investigation, but failed to identify its subject or purpose
While the facts and circumstances of these cases may differ, the FBI’s response has been consistent: take the evidence, refuse to share it with local officials, and blame the victim. The Department of Justice simply remains silent. The most significant consequence of this abdication of responsibility is that the families, friends, and communities touched by tragedy also lose their best chance at seeing justice for the loss of their loved ones. When federal agents use excessive force, the federal government is in the best position to investigate and prosecute them. The failure to look into these killings is malpractice that denies the families any chance at justice.
At the same time, the failure to investigate sends a clear message to the agent workforce: you can act with impunity. When people die at the hands of police, and official explanations are inconsistent with the evidence, officers understand that the law does not matter. They know they will not be held accountable as long as the arrest numbers continue to rise.
But there is a longer term, less apparent, effect of the FBI’s failure to live up to its investigative responsibilities in these cases: it tears apart the delicate cloth of law enforcement partnerships. Law enforcement cooperation and the sharing of unique abilities and authorities has become the backbone of public safety across the country. When the FBI helps a local police department process a challenging crime scene, that department becomes more inclined to assign one of their officers to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. When the FBI provides a rare piece of technology to help a sheriff’s department take down a drug gang, that department’s deputies begin sharing more local narcotics trafficking intelligence with the FBI. Helping leads to partnerships. Partnerships lead to success. Success in law enforcement leads to safety and security for us all.
The FBI’s actions in these recent immigration-related law enforcement killings runs counter to every rule of partnership and collaboration. The Bureau has used its federal authority and crime scene capabilities not to secure evidence for prosecution, but to place it beyond the reach of local investigators. As a result, victims are denied justice, officers are emboldened to deploy lethal force without question, and the relationships between federal, state and local law enforcement partners are strained. We are all less safe as a result.