The brothers of Renee Good, Luke and Brent Ganger, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that their lives have “forever” changed following the fatal shooting of their sister in Minneapolis by immigration enforcement personnel.
During testimony in front of Democratic lawmakers, Luke Ganger said the fatal shooting of his sister on Jan. 7 was not “just a bad day” and that he was giving his testimony to show the panel and the public “what a beautiful American we have lost.
“This is not just a bad day or a rough week or isolated incidents,” Luke Ganger said. “These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever.”
Her brothers comforted each other as they shared memories of their sister and the characteristic traits that people remember her by. As Brent Granger described her and her children, he teared up before describing her both as a mother and a sister.
“Renee is not gone from us,” Brent Ganger said in his concluding remarks. “She’s in the light that finds us on hard days. She’s in the resilience we didn’t know we had until we needed it.”
The two appeared on Capitol Hill the same day that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Democrats released a report on their key findings in the killings of Good and 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by immigration enforcement personnel in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.
“Let’s be clear: the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti could have been prevented, and they should both still be alive,” House Oversight ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) said in a statement. “President Trump, Kristi Noem, and DHS have lied over and over again and are now trying to cover up the truth. The Trump Administration needs to be held accountable.”
The report outlined four key findings ahead of the emotional testimony from Luke and Brent Ganger. The findings show how the Trump administration’s policies led to their deaths and that their “lies” can not “cover up” what people saw, while claiming that there is evidence to suggest the Trump administration is attempting to suppress misconduct and is continuing to conceal by not having impartial investigations into the shootings.
While there has been a Justice Department investigation into the shooting of Pretti, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has previously stated the department will not open an investigation into the shooting of Good.
“The Department of Justice doesn’t just stand up and investigate because some congressman thinks we should, because some governor thinks that we should,” Blanche said on Fox News last month. “We investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate, and that is not the case here; it wasn’t the case when it happened, and it’s not the case today.”
Still, Democrat’s report echoed Luke Ganger’s sentiment that these shootings were not “isolated incidents,” and arguing they were the “direct result of the rapid and intentional escalation of violence by the Department of Homeland Security in its ongoing efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, and to suppress dissent with no regard for Americans’ constitutional rights.”
The Trump administration has continuously praised the work of federal law enforcement officers and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, while Democrats have called for her impeachment or resignation.
“Federal law enforcement officers are heroically removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from American communities – including murderers, rapists, and pedophiles. The Trump Administration is grateful for their important work,” White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Washington Examiner in response to the report.
CLINTONS DODGE CONTEMPT AND SET DATES TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
The deaths of Good and Pretti have served as a boiling point for Democrats and some Republicans, as calls for reform of immigration enforcement operations have bubbled up.
A two-week funding patch for DHS that expires on Feb. 13 was signed into law by Trump on Tuesday, with Congress now negotiating the full-year funding bill for the agency. Democrats have outlined a handful of demands for the negotiations, including removing immigration agents from Minnesota, requiring judicial warrants for immigration operations, and banning masks for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
