DHS Rejects the Facts — and the Consequences Will Outlive This Administration

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — January 27, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security has been explicit in what it rejects following the fatal federal shootings in Minneapolis. It rejects that two U.S. citizens—Renée Good and Alex Pretti—were killed by agents acting without clear justification. It rejects the weight of publicly available video evidence. It rejects the legal and moral implications of medical examiners ruling both deaths homicides. And, most critically, it rejects the idea that federal power must be constrained by accountability when lethal force is used inside American cities.

That rejection is now the story.

Two Citizens, No Target Lists, No Accountability

Neither Renée Good nor Alex Pretti appeared on any public or internal deportation or removal list. Neither was the subject of a known criminal warrant that would justify a lethal federal response. Both were U.S. citizens.

Good was killed during an ICE operation earlier this month. Pretti, a nurse, was killed days later during a related enforcement action. In both cases, DHS moved quickly to frame the victims as threats before any trial, charging decision, or transparent evidentiary review.

There has been no public adjudication of the agents’ actions. There has been no criminal trial. There has been no independent federal prosecutor appointed. Yet DHS communications have repeatedly implied culpability on the part of the dead.

That sequence matters. In a system governed by law, the state does not get to render posthumous judgments to justify lethal outcomes.

Rushing Judgment, Freezing Accountability

The Minneapolis medical examiner ruled both deaths homicides. That determination does not assign criminal guilt, but it does establish that the deaths resulted from the actions of another party. DHS has treated that finding not as a trigger for restraint and transparency, but as an inconvenience to be managed.

Instead of pausing operations or publicly committing to an independent review, DHS leadership closed ranks. Officials defended tactics, questioned motives of witnesses, and emphasized enforcement authority over civilian protection. This posture has widened—not narrowed—the trust gap between the federal government and the public.

The absence of a trial does not equal exoneration. It means the question has not been tested. DHS has behaved as though the verdict is already settled.

Federal Power Without Civil Limits

The Minneapolis operations mark a shift that should concern anyone who believes federal authority must be bounded by civilian oversight. Immigration enforcement, once framed as an administrative process, is now being executed with paramilitary posture in residential neighborhoods far from any border.

This is not merely a policy disagreement. It is a structural change in how force is normalized. When federal agents kill citizens who are not suspects, and the institution responds by defending itself rather than opening itself to scrutiny, the line between enforcement and impunity begins to blur.

Public health officials have warned that such operations deter people from seeking medical care or cooperating with public institutions. Community trust is not collateral damage—it is infrastructure. Once broken, it is difficult to rebuild.

Legal Context: Why These Deaths Cannot Be Dismissed

From a legal standpoint, the facts as currently known raise unresolved questions that cannot be waived away by internal DHS statements. The medical examiner’s homicide rulings establish state-caused deaths, triggering constitutional scrutiny under the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness standard governing use of force by government agents. Federal officers are not exempt from this standard when operating domestically, nor does immigration authority supersede constitutional protections for U.S. citizens.

In addition, federal preemption does not nullify state investigatory authority when deaths occur within state jurisdiction. Minnesota retains the power to preserve evidence, conduct parallel inquiries, and refer findings for prosecution if warranted. Absent an independent federal special counsel or a transparent judicial process, the appearance—fair or not—will remain that DHS is acting as both defendant and arbiter. That posture is legally fragile and historically unsustainable.

Leadership Silence Is a Choice

Secretary Kristi Noem remains in charge of DHS. There has been no meaningful public reckoning from departmental leadership acknowledging the gravity of these deaths. There has been no signal that lethal force inside U.S. cities will be constrained differently going forward.

Equally troubling is the muted response from Democratic lawmakers. Calls for investigation exist, but there has been no sustained pressure campaign demanding accountability at the top of DHS. Silence, in this context, is not neutrality. It is acquiescence.

If Congress cannot act when U.S. citizens are killed by federal agents without clear justification, then oversight has become performative rather than functional.

The Long View Toward 2029

What DHS appears to be betting on is time. Administrations change. Headlines fade. Presidents leave office. But records remain.

By January 2029, a new president will inherit not just a department, but a paper trail—of decisions, denials, and refusals to confront evidence. History does not judge governments only by their intentions, but by what they normalized and what they ignored.

The United States has weathered abuses of power before. Even the most criticized administrations of the past recognized, at minimum, the danger of being seen as indifferent to civilian death. What is unfolding now crosses a line that previous eras hesitated to approach.

An Abomination Against Democratic Decency

This is not about immigration policy. It is about human rights and state restraint. When the government kills its own citizens, dismisses evidence, and rushes to blame the dead, it abandons the moral framework that underpins democratic legitimacy.

DHS does not get to decide, unilaterally, that these deaths are acceptable. That authority belongs to the public, the courts, and history.

What happened in Minneapolis is an abomination against the decency the United States claims to uphold. If it is allowed to stand without consequence, it will not be remembered as an aberration—but as a turning point.

References (APA):
Associated Press. (2026). Medical examiner rules deaths homicides in Minneapolis federal shootings.
Reuters. (2026). U.S. citizens killed during immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota.
Time. (2026). Public health officials warn of fallout from aggressive ICE operations.
PBS NewsHour. (2026). What we know about the Minneapolis federal shootings.