California Gov. Gavin Newsom walked back a social media post his staff made, calling Renee Good a victim of state-sponsored terrorism.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis shot and killed Good last week as she rammed him with her car.
The topic came up on the governor’s “This is Gavin Newsom” podcast published on Thursday, when guest Ben Shapiro confronted him about the post.
Shapiro noted that he did not agree with Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s characterization of Good as a “domestic terrorist.”
The protester parked her car in the middle of the street during an ICE operation. When officers approached Good and ordered her to exit her vehicle, she instead backed her car up and turned her wheels in such a way that put an ICE officer directly in front of her.
The officer then drew his gun, and she responded by driving forward quickly, striking the officer, and he shot her.
WARNING: The following videos contain vulgar language and scenes of a violent confrontation that some may find offensive.
🚨 JUST IN: NEW POV FOOTAGE released of the Minneapolis ICE agent that shot and killed woman who tried to run him over with her vehicle
He was DIRECTLY IN FRONT of the car as she floored it, you can hear the engine rev up
The agent then discharged his firearm.
CLEAR CUT, CASE… pic.twitter.com/lpYXL3IPfm
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 9, 2026
Shapiro said to Newsom, “Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism, which, I mean, governor, I just have to ask you about that. That sort of thing makes our politics worse, and it does,” to which Newsom responded, “Yeah.”
STATE. SPONSORED. TERRORISM.
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) January 8, 2026
Shapiro continued, “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists. A tragic situation is not state-sponsored terrorism.”
“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” Newsom agreed.
.@GavinNewsom WALKS BACK calling ICE operations “state-sponsored terrorism”:
Shapiro: Your press office said it was “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Newsom: “Yeah…”
Shapiro: “Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists…”
Newsom: “Yeah, I think that’s fair.” pic.twitter.com/ltjehS6ZVJ
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 16, 2026
Shapiro went on to discuss the mission of ICE more broadly and the challenges the agency faces in sanctuary states like California.
“You know, it seems to me that there have been a number of deportations from red states where there are governors and localities are working with ICE,” he said.
“California is a sanctuary state, which makes it much more difficult for local law enforcement to hand over information to ICE about deportation status. What’s the purpose of that? Wouldn’t the best policy be to cooperate with ICE in the vast majority of cases, so instead of ICE going to, as you say, hospitals and churches to pick people up, they’d be going to jailhouses?” Shapiro asked.
“That’s exactly what they do in California. I mean, we have over 10,000 that I’ve cooperated with since I’ve been governor of California,” Newsom claimed.
“We work very directly with ICE as it relates to CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] state prison. California has cooperated with more ICE transfers, probably than any other state in the country, and I have vetoed multiple pieces of legislation that have come from my legislature to stop the ability for the state of California to do that,” he added.
Newsom emphasized that the state is cooperating in relation to turning violent criminals over to ICE.
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However, he defended sanctuary policies overall, saying that given illegal immigrants are present in large numbers in the U.S., protecting them from deportation leads to safer, healthier, and more educated communities for everyone.
“It is the tool of pragmatism, because of the complete, abject failure of the federal government,” he said. “It would not be necessary if we had comprehensive immigration reform and we had a federal response that was adequate to the task.”
By comprehensive immigration reform, Democrats generally mean a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally.
KTLA-TV reported last summer that Newsom declared June Immigrant Heritage Month in California and issued a proclamation that “reiterated his administration’s support for comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for long-term residents and essential workers.”
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