We mourn the death in Minneapolis yesterday of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old wife and mother, shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. And we urge caution rather than rushes to judgment that make a common narrative, fairness and justice so much more difficult to reach. 

Almost immediately, federal authorities said the shooting was justified because Good "had tried to run down ICE agents with her vehicle," and the agent was firing to defend himself and other officers, reports Jon Collins of Minnesota Public Radio News. "Bystander video, however, offered a more complicated story that raised questions about the federal narrative. Eyewitnesses said agents gave Good conflicting orders about whether to stay or go, and that she appeared to just want to leave the scene," Collins adds. 

In a New York Times video analysis, Devon Lum, Robin Stein and Ainara Tiefenthäler cast further doubt on federal officials’ narrative. 

The incident follows the deployment of 2,000 federal immigration agents to Minneapolis this week as part of what ICE leadership called its "largest immigration operation ever," as Rebecca Santana and Mike Balsamo of the Associated Press reported. In the words of Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), who called for agents to leave the state, "To be clear, in Minnesota we are pro-public safety, and ICE is making us less safe." 

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told CNN, "I have very publicly been saying that I have been concerned, both number one, that a tragedy would occur — that either a federal law enforcement officer or a civilian member of the community would get seriously hurt or killed — and also that such heightened tensions and so many emotions around these issues could lead to civil unrest." 

Paul Walsh and Jeff Day of The Minnesota Star Tribune report that Good’s mother described her daughter as "extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being."  

We send our sympathies and prayers to the Good family, to Minneapolis and to the state of Minnesota. 

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Dan Gordon, the Forum’s VP of Strategic Communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Nicci Mattey and Clara Villatoro. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].   

ALIEN ENEMIES ACT — The U.S. Justice Department is using charges against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to defend the president’s effort to use the Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport purported members of the Tren de Aragua gang, reports Devan Cole of CNN. But: "The allegations in the indictment against Maduro don’t provide any further proof that we’ve been ‘invaded’ by Venezuela or subject to a ‘predatory incursion,’ than President Trump’s initial proclamation last March," said Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck. 

CHURCHES HURTING — Pastors are trying to purvey hope as immigration policies hurt congregations in the Midwest, Debbie Michel reports in the Lake Union Herald, a Seventh-day Adventist Church publication. "Every day our people wake up with the same question," said Vitalii Hanulich, an Illinois Conference pastor of the Ukrainian Church in Chicago. "Should I wait? Should I leave? No one knows what will happen next." In the words of Indiana Multicultural Ministries Director Noel Ojeda, "The church must respond with compassion and not fear."   

COMPLICATING THE PATH — Despite numerous obstacles on the journey to U.S. citizenship, immigrants across the country continue trying, report Emily Dreyfuss and Jesse Alejandro Cottrell of The San Francisco Standard. The podcast episode follows the efforts of Abigail Larios, whose citizenship application has been on hold for months, and others in her citizenship class who are trying to complete the process.  

HOPE — In a moment filled with uncertainty and desperation, Eileen McKenzie writes on what she sees at Kino Border Initiative in Nogales, Mexico, for her piece in Global Sisters Report. McKenzie writes that even though she is "tempted to be consumed by anger or give in to despair," she still sees hope in the people she encounters through her work and the programs she witnesses every day. McKenzie reflects, "Sometimes it's hard-to-find hope, but like God, it's there." 

Thanks for reading,  

Dan