WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a room charged with grief and political tension, the brothers of Renee Nicole Good stood before a congressional forum on Tuesday to recount the final moments of their sister’s life. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and poet, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Her death has since become a flashpoint in a national debate over the “Operation Metro Surge” federal policing initiative.
“My sister was the sun,” Brent Ganger told the panel, his voice steady but thick with emotion. “Sunlight doesn’t ask for permission to shine. It just gives. Renee just gave. And they took her from us for no reason at all.”
A Family’s Grief on the National Stage
The hearing, organized by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), was convened as a “public forum” to examine the use of force by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Because the hearing was not an official full-committee session, it was attended almost exclusively by Democrats. Notably, no Republican members of Congress were present, a fact that Senator Blumenthal addressed in his opening remarks.
“They should be here in person, but they were murdered,” Blumenthal said, referring to Good and Alex Pretti, a VA nurse killed in a separate encounter with federal agents weeks later. “They were killed in cold blood by their own government.”
Luke and Brent Ganger were joined at the witness table by Antonio Romanucci, the civil rights attorney representing the family. Romanucci, who previously represented the family of George Floyd, argued that the shooting of Renee Good was part of a “disturbing pattern of lawlessness” by federal agents operating with perceived immunity in American cities.
The Fatal Encounter
According to testimony and evidence presented Tuesday, the incident occurred shortly after Renee Good had dropped her six-year-old son off at school. While driving her maroon Honda Pilot, she encountered a group of ICE agents whose vehicle had become stuck in the snow.
While DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has previously characterized Good as a “domestic terrorist” who attempted to “ram” officers, bystander video played during the hearing told a different story. The footage shows an agent, later identified as Jonathan Ross, screaming at Good to “get out of the f***ing car” while reaching for her door handle. When Good attempted to drive away, Ross fired three shots into the vehicle.
“She was terrified,” Luke Ganger testified. “She wasn’t a terrorist. She was a mom trying to get home to her wife and kids. She saw men with guns screaming at her and she did what anyone would do—she tried to get to safety.”
The Ganger brothers described the agonizing weeks following the shooting, during which they say the federal government has smeared their sister’s character to justify the killing. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary Noem have both defended the agent’s actions as self-defense, though local Minnesota officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, have called for a more transparent investigation.
“Operation Metro Surge” Under Fire
The testimony from the Ganger brothers was part of a larger panel of victims of federal agent activity. Also testifying was Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis resident with a traumatic brain injury who was violently pulled from her car by agents while on her way to a medical appointment.
“I told them I had a disability,” Rahman told the lawmakers through tears. “They didn’t care. They treated me like a criminal because I was in their way.”
The hearing highlighted the escalating friction between federal and state authorities. Just yesterday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office sent formal letters to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS demanding the release of evidence in the Good case. Local prosecutors have alleged that federal authorities are obstructing their investigation by withholding body-camera footage and restricting access to witnesses.
The Political Divide
The absence of Republican lawmakers underscored the deep partisan rift over the current administration’s immigration and policing tactics. While Democrats at the forum called for the impeachment of Secretary Noem and the abolishment of the “Metro Surge” program, supporters of the administration argue that federal agents are necessary to combat a “fraud scandal” and maintain order in the Twin Cities.
For the Ganger family, however, the politics are secondary to the personal loss. Brent Ganger concluded his testimony by reading a short poem written by his sister, a reminder of the artist and mother who is no longer there to pick up her son from school.
“We aren’t here for a political win,” Luke Ganger said after the hearing. “We are here because our sister is dead, and the man who killed her is still walking the streets with a badge. We want the truth, and we want justice.”
News Sources & Links
- CBS News Minnesota: Renee Good’s brothers to testify on Capitol Hill on federal agents’ use of force
- The Advocate: Renee Good’s family will testify about ICE killing in Congress today
- The New Republic: Not a Single Republican Shows Up to Hearing With Renee Good’s Brothers
- KARE 11: Renée Good’s brother at congressional hearing: ‘Sunlight doesn’t ask… It just gives’
- American Immigration Council: Can Renee Good’s Family Sue ICE? The Answer Is Complicated
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