FBI Agent Resigns While Investigating ICE Shooting Incident: "Pressured by Superiors to Halt Probe"

Controversy Grows Over Trump Administration’s Alleged Cover-Up in Minnesota Shooting
Earlier, Six Federal Prosecutors Resigned After Being Ordered to Investigate the Victim’s Family

The New York Times (NYT) reported on January 23 (local time) that an FBI agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, resigned after facing pressure from superiors while attempting to investigate an incident in which an immigration enforcement officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen.

According to sources, FBI agent Tracy Mergen sought to launch a civil rights investigation into Jonathan Ross, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who fatally shot U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good on January 7. However, Mergen was recently instructed by the Washington headquarters to halt the investigation. Following this pressure, Mergen stepped down from her supervisory position at the FBI’s Minneapolis field office. Cindy Burnham, spokesperson for the Minneapolis FBI office, declined to comment on Mergen’s resignation.

The FBI's civil rights investigations are standard procedures that address hate crimes and abuses of authority occurring within the United States, and it is common practice to investigate fatal shootings like this case.

Good was shot and killed by an ICE officer at close range while sitting in the driver’s seat of her car and conversing with ICE agents. News that an unarmed U.S. citizen was killed at close range by an immigration enforcement officer has sent shockwaves through American society. Protests have spread nationwide beyond Minneapolis in the aftermath of the incident, and criticism has emerged that this tragedy is intertwined with President Donald Trump’s authoritarian style of governance. The Trump administration has labeled Good a “left-wing terrorist” and claims the shooting was an act of self-defense, but controversy over abuse of authority continues to persist.

Mergen’s resignation came after the U.S. Department of Justice repeatedly stated that it had no plans to conduct a civil rights investigation into Good’s killing. On January 13, Todd Blanche, Deputy Attorney General of the Department of Justice, publicly declared, “There is no basis for a civil rights investigation into the ICE officer.”

Mergen is not the first official to step down during the investigation into this incident. On the same day, six prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota also resigned. Although these prosecutors did not officially disclose their reasons for resigning, reports indicate that they stepped down in protest after the Department of Justice demanded an investigation into Good and her same-sex spouse, Becca Good. The Department of Justice reportedly sought to determine whether the couple was linked to left-wing protests in the Minneapolis area.

The NYT also reported that federal investigative agencies have refused to cooperate with Minnesota state authorities or local prosecutors regarding Good’s killing, making it difficult for the state to conduct an independent investigation. Previously, Minnesota authorities announced they would launch their own investigation in response to the Trump administration’s decision to classify the ICE officer’s shooting as self-defense.