Kristi Noem landed in hot water again after responding to the Minneapolis ICE shooting. Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown in the city took a deadly turn on January 7, 2026, following a fatal ICE shooting incident that intensified an already volatile situation.
Minneapolis has been reeling from turmoil linked to the Somali-run daycare fraud scheme, and tensions escalated further with the circulation of social media videos showing the moments leading up to the shooting.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem further complicated the situation by finding a way to defend the ICE agent who shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen.
Earlier this week, Noem announced that the Trump administration would deploy approximately 2,000 immigration officers to Minneapolis to expand enforcement operations following the revelation of daycare fraud scheme. The fatal incident took place after agents were deployed in Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul.
‘An act of domestic terrorism’ is insane. This is so sad, and screams entitlement and a pure lack of accountability. Justice for that poor woman
— K T (@kevintambo_) January 8, 2026
Kristi Noem defended the ICE agent during a press conference on January 8, admitting that the tragedy was “preventable.” However, her follow-up statement further fired up critics amid the ongoing backlash.
The DHS Secretary described Renee Nicole Good as a “violent rioter” who was allegedly trying to run over an immigration officer, according to the BBC. She explained that when the officers approached her, she was “blocking them with her car.”
Noem also claimed that Good had been “stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day,” as per CBS News. She alleged that when an ICE agent told her to get out of her car, she “refused to obey the commands.”
“She (Good) then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run a law enforcement officer over. This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism,” said Noem on Thursday.
Sec. Kristi Noem says that just TODAY, there have been four ramming attacks on federal officers, three of which happened in Minneapolis.
“We’ve seen over 100 of these vehicle rammings happen in just recent weeks.”
Later she reveals that the ICE agent involved in this shooting… pic.twitter.com/2c2xv5P575
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) January 8, 2026
According to the DHS secretary, the officer “defensively shot” the woman to “protect himself.” In addition to her version of the incident, Kristi Noem also confirmed that despite the fatal outcome, ICE operations in Minneapolis would continue without any pause.
Noem also said that the incident on Wednesday was part of a long-standing “domestic terrorist attacks on federal officers by the ramming of vehicles,” ever since the administration began its immigration crackdown.
“We’re still doing our work out on the streets to get dangerous criminals off of the streets of Minneapolis,” said the Homeland Security Secretary.
Following Noem’s statement, critics and Democrats stressed that she should be impeached. “The framing of that shooting as an intentional act of domestic terror is unfathomably sick,” one social media user wrote on X.
“Noem should be arrested immediately,” another commented. “Good time to impeach Noem,” a third user wrote.
The backlash continues to grown as many are pointing out that Renee was a U.S. citizen who was apparently unarmed at the time, as seen in the video.
