Border Czar Tom Homan Urges ‘Let the Investigation Play Out’ After ICE Officer Kills Minnesotan in Minneapolis
Border czar Tom Homan urged people to “let the investigation play out” following Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.
Homan, a former acting ICE director who now serves as President Donald Trump’s border czar, said he had not seen clear examples of ICE agents using excessive force, even as critics circulate selectively edited videos of arrests and confrontations during the administration’s stepped-up enforcement push.
“I have not seen ICE act out outside of policy,” Homan told CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil. “If they are acting outside of policy, I’m not aware of it. There’ll be an investigation. They’ll be held accountable.”
Homan’s comments came the same day an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis during a Department of Homeland Security operation in the Twin Cities.
Video footage reveals masked officers approaching Good’s vehicle, which then backs up and begins to pull away, moving in the direction of the officer who fired at close range.
Federal officials say the officer acted in self-defense.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the incident “domestic terrorism,” and Trump wrote on Truth Social that Good “ran over the ICE Officer.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, disputed the federal account and blamed the Trump administration for escalating tensions by deploying thousands of federal personnel.
The competing narratives underscore the political flashpoint created when immigration enforcement collides with aggressive protests and a media environment primed to presume guilt, often against law enforcement.
Homan, however, declined to offer a verdict based on a single clip.
“I’m not going to make a judgment call on one video when there’s a hundred videos out there,” he said, adding that he was not on scene and had not reviewed potential body-camera footage.
“It would 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.”
Both the FBI and Minnesota state officials are investigating.
Legal experts note that cases involving vehicles frequently favor officers because a car can be viewed as a deadly weapon, and federal agents are generally shielded from state prosecution when acting within their official duties.
Homan also warned that the climate surrounding immigration operations has grown more dangerous, pointing to what he called “hateful rhetoric and violent attacks” against ICE and Border Patrol.
Under DHS guidelines, force is authorized only when no safe and feasible alternative exists.
As demonstrations spread to other major cities, supporters of immigration enforcement argue that officers are being asked to do a difficult job amid rising hostility and that political leaders should stop inflaming tensions while investigators determine the facts.
