STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The family of Renee Good is suing the federal government twice. Good was killed by federal agents during January's immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. Here's NPR's Meg Anderson.
MEG ANDERSON, BYLINE: At a press conference announcing the two lawsuits, Becca Good, Renee Good's partner, made her first public appearance since the killing. She's now raising their 6-year-old son alone.
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BECCA GOOD: No child should grow up without a parent. No one should lose their sister or their daughter. No one should have to live without their soulmate.
ANDERSON: Civil suits have the potential to hold entire institutions accountable, rather than just individual actors. That's what the family is setting out to do. Ben Berkman is one of the lawyers representing Renee Good's family, and he put the difference between the two lawsuits pretty simply.
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BEN BERKMAN: The first is about what happened on Portland Avenue on January 7.
ANDERSON: That's the street where ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot Good inside her car. That lawsuit argues that Ross violated the Fourth Amendment by using excessive force.
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BERKMAN: The second is about why Jonathan Ross and those agents were on Portland Avenue to begin with.
ANDERSON: That lawsuit argues that federal officials engaged in a conspiracy, a coordinated effort to interfere with the civil rights of people in Minnesota, particularly Hispanic and Somali people.
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BERKMAN: And a coordinated effort to silence, by any means necessary, the Minnesotans who would not look away.
ANDERSON: The family is not only suing Ross, but also White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House border czar Tom Homan and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others. NPR reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but did not hear back. In a statement, a White House spokesperson told NPR that it intends to, quote, "vigorously defend itself" and that the lawsuits are, quote, "baseless." The civil charges also underscore a lack of criminal charges or any findings of a federal investigation into Good's death. At the press conference, Brent Ganger, Good's brother, sounded frustrated by the inaction of federal officials.
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BRENT GANGER: The fact that there's been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind-blowing.
ANDERSON: Ganger acknowledged that several other people have also been killed by DHS agents. According to The Trace, a news site that focuses on gun violence, nine people have been killed by immigration agents since President Trump took office again last year.
Meg Anderson, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE'S "RESERVOIR") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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