Family of Renee Good files lawsuits over her death, including one alleging federal conspiracy

The family of Renee Good  — the 37-year-old woman killed by a federal agent in January 2026 during the Trump Administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, Minnesota — has filed civil lawsuits against the U.S. government and federal officials. The first is the equivalent of a wrongful death case and alleges that Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who killed Good, violated the Fourth Amendment and ICE’s own policies by utilizing excessive force.

The second lawsuit is more unusual because it alleges a conspiracy among federal officials to interfere with Minnesotans’ civil rights. It contends that Good’s death was the intended outcome of the encounter as part of the immigration crackdown.

A lack of action resulting in frustration on the Good family’s part led to the lawsuits

According to NPR, Good’s brother, Brent Granger, when speaking at a press conference last week, said, “The fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind-blowing. We will not wait any longer. The time is absolutely now for accountability, for the deep damage done by ICE and others. We will not be quiet. We will not go away.”

Thus far, no criminal charges have been filed in the case of Good’s death, and neither DHS nor the FBI seems to have investigated the incident. In fact, in the aftermath of Good’s death, the Department of Justice pushed for investigations into Good and her partner as domestic terrorists, leading to a slew of resignations from federal prosecutors. The only option left for Good’s family seemed to be civil charges.

In addition to the lawsuits, Granger and his mother spoke before Congress recently at a hearing about fatal shootings committed by immigration officers.

The lawsuits demand accountability from the institutions involved

The wrongful death lawsuit is seeking damages for the emotional distress Good’s partner, Becca Good, experienced as she was there when Good was killed. Additionally, it seeks damages for Good’s family for what Good herself suffered in her final moments when Ross shot her several times while she was in her vehicle.

The second lawsuit is where things get interesting. Alleging a federal conspiracy, it posits that the killing of Good was the “predictable and intended product” of Operation Metro Surge, and that the actions taken by Ross furthered a “carefully planned, coordinated effort” to make Hispanic and Somali people the “object of aggression and abduction” while silencing those “who observed, documented, and warned of that campaign.” The Good family’s lawyers relied upon the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, used to combat KKK terrorism during Reconstruction, to make their argument.

One of the family’s lawyers explained that the wrongful death lawsuit is about what was done to Good that day. The other is about the reason the officers involved were even out there on that street that day. The lawsuit names 10 federal agents who were on the scene, though they are listed as John Does because their identities have not been released. Additionally, the suit names federal officials including former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House advisor Stephen Miller, and more.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis reportedly claimed in a statement, “We intend to vigorously defend these baseless civil lawsuits.”

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