Policing and Public Safety

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said firing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem would be "a start" but "not enough," calling DHS under the Trump administration a "killing machine" after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis and other recent vehicle‑related encounters (including a Portland shooting), and laying out demands — warrants for arrests, bans on masks, mandatory body cameras and criminal accountability — before Democrats will back the GOP DHS funding bill. The Minneapolis killing, disputed by local officials and captured on bystander video, has spurred nationwide "ICE Out For Good" protests, intensified calls for oversight and hearings, and prompted many Democrats to threaten to withhold funding unless statutory guardrails are enacted.

Retired law‑enforcement leaders say Minneapolis is facing a dangerous breakdown in public order as massive anti‑ICE protests collide with aggressive federal immigration operations. Former LAPD detective Moses Castillo, a veteran of the 1992 LA riots, told Fox News the current tactics are "creating more mayhem than results" and warned that poorly coordinated raids risk a "friendly‑fire" killing, even if shootings are later ruled legally justified under Graham v. Connor. Retired lieutenant Randy Sutton, who runs The Wounded Blue, described an "unprecedented" mob mentality, with hundreds or thousands surrounding federal agents, and accused Minnesota’s governor and Minneapolis leaders of "abdicating" responsibility for public safety; he pointed to an incident where an ICE officer’s finger was reportedly bitten off as evidence that violence against officers is being normalized. The article notes these warnings come as President Trump dispatches Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, framing the city as gripped by "violent chaos" while protests over recent fatal ICE and Border Patrol shootings continue and social media amplifies both anger at federal agents and calls to protect them. The retired officers’ comments underscore growing concern inside the policing community that the way these operations are being run is escalating risk for both agents and the public, beyond the underlying legal questions about individual shootings.

A Council on Criminal Justice study of 35 large U.S. cities found homicides fell 21% from 2024 to 2025 — the single‑largest one‑year drop in the dataset — amounting to roughly 922 fewer killings and leaving the sample's homicide rate about 25% below 2019 levels. Declines occurred in most cities (notable drops included Richmond 59%, Los Angeles 39% and New York City 10%; Denver, Omaha and Washington, D.C. saw 40%+ reductions while Little Rock rose 16%), and the report also found big drops in carjackings (61% since 2023), vehicle thefts (27%) and shoplifting (10%) with drug offenses edging up and experts attributing the turnaround to multiple factors like restored routines, targeted interventions, resumed court operations and broader investments.

Minnesota police chiefs allege ICE and Border Patrol agents have "targeted" off‑duty officers of color during Operation Metro Surge, citing incidents in which officers were boxed in, ordered to produce proof of citizenship and, in one case, had a phone knocked from her hand while recording. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt and St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry called the stops civil‑rights violations that undermine community trust and urged greater oversight and vetting of the roughly 3,000 federal agents deployed, while a Border Patrol commander declined to address the Brooklyn Park incident and said agents will continue their Title 8 mission.