The White House on Monday accused protesters against immigration raids and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of “impeding operations” of the country’s security forces, amid tensions over the death of Renee Good killed by a federal agent last Wednesday in Minneapolis.
“We see these agitators who have been protesting, harassing ICE agents all weekend long (…) are actively trying to impede law enforcement operations and put an end to President Trump’s mandate,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.
Protests against ICE hinder operations
🚨SICKENING: Karoline Leavitt calls the mother murdered by ICE a “deranged lunatic” LEAVITT: “This deranged lunatic woman used her vehicle as a weapon which justifies domestic terrorism.”
This is how fascists excuse state killings.
pic.twitter.com/KLh3irNJLz– CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) January 12, 2026
Karoline Leavitt defended the work of ICE, which she said is responsible for removing “undocumented criminals, murderers and rapists” from U.S. cities, and said President Donald Trump strongly supports the “brave” men and women of the service.
This weekend, more than 1,000 protests were held in the U.S. against the government’s immigration policy and the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman who was shot three times by a federal agent while in her vehicle near an immigration raid in Minneapolis.
Leavitt insisted that his death was an act of self-defense on the part of the ICE agent.
“That officer in Minneapolis was fully within his rights to defend himself against a lunatic who is part of an organized group that interferes with police operations,” he asserted.
The spokeswoman again blamed Democrats for what happened and accused them of protecting “pedophiles and criminals” over the interests of U.S. citizens and federal agents.
He also confirmed the deployment of an increased number of officers to Minneapolis, announced Sunday by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“We’re sending more officers today and tomorrow, it will be hundreds more, to allow our ICE and Border Patrol people who are working in Minneapolis to be able to continue to do so safely,” Noem said on Fox News.
According to local media estimates, those agents will be in addition to some 2,100 ICE and other federal agency agents already sent by Homeland Security earlier this month to the state of Minnesota.
Good’s death has also raised questions about the actions of the officer involved, after local authorities and lawyers for the family pointed out that known videos of the incident do not conclusively show an immediate threat against the officer.
Legal organizations have called for an independent and transparent investigation, stressing that the case occurred in the context of an immigration operation and not during the commission of a violent crime.
Although no further demonstrations have been called for this week in Minnesota for the moment, rallies around federal buildings are planned after the reinforcement of agents announced by the Administration.
Filed under: Protests ICE hinder operations
With information by EFE
