1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to demand immediate congressional action regarding the Justice Department's handling of the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer. The facts surrounding this case reveal a disturbing pattern of obstruction and abuse of authority that requires independent investigation and accountability. According to investigative reporting by Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche directed federal prosecutors and FBI agents in Minnesota to shut down a civil rights investigation into the shooting. Instead, officials ordered investigators to redirect their focus to probe Good herself for possible criminal liability. FBI agents who had initially drafted a search warrant to obtain Good's car for bullet trajectory reconstruction were instructed to redraft the warrant to investigate Good for suspected assault on an officer. A federal magistrate judge rejected this revised warrant, noting that Good was already deceased and could not be considered a suspect. Such judicial rejection of a search warrant is extremely rare given the low evidentiary standard of probable cause. This decision to abandon a civil rights investigation represents a departure from standard practice whenever a federal officer fatally shoots a member of the public. The consequences have been severe. FBI supervisor Tracee Mergen, who oversees fraud and public corruption cases in the Minneapolis field office, resigned in frustration over this handling. Six prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office also resigned over the decision to investigate Good and her partner rather than the shooting itself. Six senior leaders in the Civil Rights Division unit that would normally investigate such shootings accelerated their plans to resign and retire in protest. The Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office, which normally has 80 prosecutors, is now down to nearly half that number. Federal magistrate judges have rejected multiple arrest warrants and criminal complaints against protesters, finding insufficient evidence to meet even the low probable cause standard. I urge you to demand an independent investigation into this shooting, the DOJ's obstruction of the civil rights investigation, and accountability for all officials involved in this misconduct. Renee Good, a mother who had just dropped her child at school before peacefully protesting an ICE raid, deserves justice.