The ICE shootings in Minnesota have caused quite a stir nationwide. Now, one of immigration enforcement officers, under Donald Trump‘s administration, was caught bragging about something controversial in text messages. It was read out during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. The brothers of Renee Nicole Good, the woman who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, were also present, as they tried to hold back tears.
In the text messages, the ICE agent was caught bragging about shooting a young woman in Chicago. He texted about firing “five rounds” into her body and even claimed “s–t happens.” The officer was referring to shooting Marimar Martinez during an operation in Chicago on October 4. During the operation, ICE agents shot the woman and blamed her for the outcome.
The federal agents claimed that Martinez was causing disruption by chasing them, and even rammed her car into one of their vehicles. However, the Border Patrol’s story later changed, and the case against her later changed.
Robert Garcia reading text messages of an agent bragging about shooting Marimar Martinez pic.twitter.com/XARhyXAWcd
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 3, 2026
The ICE agent’s texts were read out by Democrat Robert Garcia on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as Martinez testified about the use of force by Department of Human Services officers. Among all the messages sent by the agent, one particular message caught attention. He shared a link to an article about the shooting, bragging, “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
In another text, he wrote, “Oh well, it is what it is.” Then, in another message, he wrote, “S–t happens.” Robert Garcia slammed the ICE agent’s messages as “disgusting and shameful.”
“This is someone that works for the United States government. It’s our understanding that he was actually bragging about his aim in shooting an unarmed American citizen. Is that right?” asked Garcia.
To this, Martinez replied, “Correct.” At the hearing, she said, “The government told the people they were targeting the worst of the worst, but their actions demonstrated otherwise.” The case against her was dismissed two months after she was initially charged.
“They are targeting individuals who fit a certain profile, who simply have a certain accent, a non-white skin color, just like me,” Martinez said on Tuesday.
Host: Marimar Martinez was shot 5 times in Chicago and charged with ramming her car into the vehicle of the Border Patrol agent who shot her. But a judge dismissed those charges in a remarkable reversal. New surveillance video shows it was the agent who sideswiped Martinez. pic.twitter.com/C5CJbaT5GA
— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 3, 2026
This shocking revelation comes at a time when the Trump administration is already facing backlash for rampant ICE shootings. It all started with the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three. She was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7. At that time, Vice President JD Vance claimed that Ross had “full immunity.” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem branded Good as a “domestic terrorist.”
The situation intensified after Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs nurse, was killed on the streets of Minneapolis. The Trump administration tried to defend the agents who shot him, saying that Pretti was armed and willing to commit an “act of domestic terrorism.”
