On Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance went before reporters at the White House and defended Wednesday's fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good by an ICE agent after she refused orders to stop her vehicle.
“The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action – that’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job,” stated Vance in a clip posted by CBS News.
Some legal experts disagree with Vance’s statement, reports CNN. They believe that Vance was “overstating” the law regarding immunity for federal officials, but they note that the case will be hard to prosecute as a federal judge decides if the officer’s action were in his official duties and reasonable to take.
Associated Press reported previously that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the incident an "act of domestic terrorism" against ICE officers. According to Noem, the driver attempted to run over the agents by ramming them with her vehicle, and an officer acted quickly in self defense, shooting the driver in order “to protect himself and the people around him." Noem said the officer was following his training, and the FBI will investigate.
Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
"The ICE agents and the woman who was shot are both the victims of Democratic politicians, who are engaged in what can only be described as seditious and dangerous behavior by whipping up this hysteria about federal officers enforcing federal law," states Krikorian.
Krikorian says that everyone should be able to agree on one point.
"People like Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey, and then other democratic politicians at the national level, need to turn down the rhetoric because they are the ones that created the situation that led to this tragedy, and they need to start behaving responsibly," concludes Krikorian.
