Politics
Brothers of Renee Good describe family’s grief, urge action at Democratic forum on ICE force
WASHINGTON — One of the brothers of Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed by an immigration agent in Minneapolis, told congressional Democrats on Tuesday that he needed their help.
Luke Ganger said their family had taken some consolation in the thought that his sister’s death might spark a change.
“It has not,” he said.
That is why Ganger and people who had been violently detained by immigration agents gathered to share their experiences with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to ask the government to rein in an agency they described as lawless.
Tuesday’s forum — not an official hearing because Republicans did not agree to it — was led by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. It was held not in the Capitol, but a nearby Senate office building.
Garcia and Blumenthal convened the forum to gather testimony “on the violent tactics and disproportionate use of force by agents of the Department of Homeland Security.”
All of the incidents referenced in the forum were captured on video.
Democrats heard from three U.S. citizens who are residents of San Bernardino, Chicago and Minneapolis. Also present were Good’s two brothers and an attorney representing their family.
Good’s killing on Jan. 7 has led to a wave of national protests, further inflamed after agents fatally shot ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, two weeks later. Protesters have called on federal agents to stop using violence in pursuit of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.
From left, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Luke Ganger and Brent Ganger arrive for a public forum on violent use of force by Department of Homeland Security personnel.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
“Let’s be very clear: these stories are not just about Minneapolis,” Blumenthal said. “These stories span the country.”
Blumenthal called for a “complete overhaul, a rebuilding” of the Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agencies. Such an overhaul, he said, would require body-worn cameras and that officers wear identification and undergo rigorous use-of-force training. In addition, acts of violence would require full investigations under the supervision of an independent monitor. Without those reforms, he said he wouldn’t support more funding for DHS.
Ganger said the “surreal scenes” taking place in Minneapolis and beyond are not isolated and are changing many lives.
“The deep distress our family feels because of Renee’s loss in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief, distress and desperation for change,” he said.
Ganger said his family is “a very American blend” that votes differently and rarely agrees fully on the details of what it means to be a citizen of the U.S. Despite those differences, he said, they have always treated each other with love and respect.
“We’ve gotten even closer during this very divided time in our country,” he said. “We hope that our family can be even a small example to others not to let political ideals divide us.”
The panel heard from Martin Daniel Rascon, 23, of San Bernardino, and three others who described harrowing experiences with immigration agents. Rascon was in a truck with two family members last August when they were stopped by more than a dozen federal agents who pointed rifles at them and shot at the car multiple times.
Francisco Longoria, the man driving the truck, was later arrested and charged by federal authorities, who alleged he had assaulted immigration officers with his truck during the incident. Longoria’s attorneys said he drove off because he feared for his safety. The charges were dropped a month later.
Describing the moment the unidentified men shattered the truck’s windows and punched Longoria in the face, Rascon said: “In that moment, the whole world felt like it was the size of the inside of our pickup, and we were sitting in harm’s way with nothing to do but record it.”
Rascon, who cried while giving his testimony, said federal agents returned to his home at 4 a.m. two weeks later, broke the locks and pointed a gun at his then-pregnant fiancee. He said the incidents left him feeling unsafe everywhere, even at home.
Marimar Martinez, 30, of Chicago, was shot five times by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent and then charged with assaulting the agent who shot her. Those charges were also later dropped.
Martinez testified that she was on her way to drop off a bag of clothing for donation to her local church when she noticed an SUV with federal immigration agents. She began following the vehicle for the next 20 or so minutes while shouting out “la migra!” to warn immigrant neighbors of their presence.
Eventually, the vehicle with federal agents side-swiped Martinez’s car. She said an agent got out and pointed his gun at her, then she looked down and noticed blood gushing from her arms and legs. She pulled into a mechanic shop and called 911. After her release from a hospital, Martinez saw on the news that she was being called a domestic terrorist.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) told Martinez he was angry on her behalf. “Tell me, what do you want this government to do to apologize to you?” he said.
“Just a sorry, you’re not a domestic terrorist,” she replied. “That’s it. …For them to admit that they were wrong [about] everything that they said about me. I just want accountability.”
Aliya Rahman, of Minneapolis, was dragged from her car on the way to a doctor’s appointment and detained by ICE agents after telling them she has a disability. Rahman has autism and is recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
DHS said Rahman was arrested because she ignored multiple commands. Rahman said it takes time for her to understand auditory commands.
Rahman said agents yelled threats and conflicting instructions that she couldn’t process while watching for pedestrians. As she hit the ground face-first, she said, she felt shooting pain as agents leaned on her back. She thought of George Floyd, who was killed four blocks away.
Rahman said she was never told she was under arrest or charged with a crime. The agents taking her to the federal Whipple Building referred to detainees as “bodies.” She said she received no medical screening, phone call or access to a lawyer, and was denied a communication navigator when her speech began to slur.
Eventually, she became unable to speak.
“The last sounds I remember before I blacked out on the cell floor were my cellmate banging on the door, pleading for a medic and a voice outside saying, ‘We don’t want to step on ICE’s toes,’ ” she said.
Rahman said she later woke up at a hospital, where doctors told her she had suffered a concussion.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) speaks during a public forum on violent use of force by Department of Homeland Security personnel.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)
Garcia called the forum a move toward accountability because Congress has the right to step in when constitutional rights are violated. He said Democrats have tracked at least 186 incidents of problematic uses of force by federal immigration agents.
Antonio Romanucci, the attorney representing Good’s family and who also represented the family of George Floyd, said that while he has handled excessive force cases for decades, “this is an unprecedented and deeply unsettling time.” Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
“The occupation by ICE and CBP in our cities is way beyond their mission, leading to unnecessary provocation that causes needless harm and death,” he said. “These operations in multiple states have routinely and consistently included violations of the Constitution.”
The current path to hold federal officers accountable is narrow, he said. Congress could pass legislation to add language making it easier for people to file civil lawsuits in cases such as Good’s.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) questioned why the hearing was made up only of Democrats. He said Republicans can’t be let off the hook.
“Under normal circumstances — regardless of who’s in the majority — when tragedies like this happen congressional committees convene to conduct our job to provide that oversight,” he said. “But our Republican colleagues refused to.”
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President Donald Trump is taking his feud with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., to the libertarian lawmaker’s home turf on Wednesday.
Trump is expected to hold an event in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Kentucky announced on social media Monday. It’s located in the northern part of the state’s 4th Congressional District, which Massie represents.
Massie’s primary rival, Ed Gallrein, will attend the Hebron event, his campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, while deferring all other questions on the matter to the White House.
Massie himself will miss the event due to a previously scheduled official engagement, his spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
KHANNA AND MASSIE THREATEN TO FORCE A VOTE ON IRAN AS PROSPECT OF US ATTACK LOOMS
President Donald Trump will be visiting Rep. Thomas Massie’s congressional district on Wednesday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
When asked about the visit, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “President Trump will visit the great states of Ohio and Kentucky on Wednesday to tout his economic victories and detail his Administration’s aggressive, ongoing efforts to lower prices and make America more affordable.”
The president has thrown his considerable influence behind Gallrein to unseat Massie after the GOP lawmaker publicly defied Trump on multiple occasions.
MASSIE, KHANNA TO VISIT DOJ TO REVIEW UNREDACTED EPSTEIN FILES
Massie most recently was one of two House Republicans to vote to stop Trump’s joint operation in Iran with Israel, though the legislation was successfully blocked by the majority of GOP lawmakers and a handful of Democrats.
Ed Gallrein, left, seen with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House. (Ed Gallrein congressional campaign)
He was also one of two Republicans to vote against Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last year.
Trump in turn has hurled a slew of personal attacks against Massie, including calling him “weak and pathetic” in a statement endorsing Gallrein in October.
“He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the Radical Left. Unlike ‘lightweight’ Massie, a totally ineffective LOSER who has failed us so badly, CAPTAIN ED GALLREIN IS A WINNER WHO WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump posted on Truth Social at the time, one of numerous criticisms targeting the Kentucky Republican through the years.
He called Massie the “worst Republican congressman” in July amid Massie’s bipartisan push to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.
Then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But Massie has so far appeared to defy political gravity despite making political enemies out of both Trump and House GOP leaders.
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He handily defeated multiple primary challengers in 2024 and 2022, despite public feuds with Trump, and has served his district since 2012.
Gallrein is a retired Navy SEAL and farmer who launched his campaign days after Trump made his endorsement. Their primary election day is May 19.
As anxiety mounts among California Democrats about the potential of a Republican being elected governor, the state party will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling to assess the viability of the sprawling field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to plans released Tuesday.
The move comes after nearly every Democratic candidate refused party leaders’ call last week to withdraw from the race to avoid splitting the vote in the June primary — an outcome that could lead to a Republican being elected to statewide office for the first time in two decades.
“Candidates have filed, and now they’ve got the opportunity to showcase their viability, their path to win. I want to simply ensure that everybody has information to fully understand the current state of the race,” said Rusty Hicks, the leader of the California Democratic Party.
As campaign season ramps up, the series of six polls will allow “candidates, supporters, the media, voters, anyone and everyone to have a clear understanding of what is or is not happening in this particular race,” he said.
The filing deadline to appear on the June 2 ballot was Friday. Three days earlier, Hicks released an open letter urging candidates who did not have a path to victory to withdraw from the race. Of the nine prominent Democrats who had announced runs for governor, only one heeded his call: former state Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon.
That means the eight other candidates’ names will appear on the ballot, regardless of whether they decide to later drop out. And that creates the possibility of a Republican winning the race because of how California elections are decided.
The state has a voter-approved top-two primary system, under which the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June primary advance to the November general election, regardless of party.
Two prominent Republicans will appear on the ballot: former conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, and the state’s electorate last elevated Republicans to statewide office in 2006, it is mathematically possible for Democrats to splinter the vote, allowing the two GOP candidates to advance.
Under such a scenario, not only would Republicans be guaranteed the leadership of the nation’s most-populous state, but Democratic voter turnout also would probably be depressed in November, potentially affecting down-ballot races such as those that could determine control of Congress.
Hicks’ call last week prompted concerns among candidates of color, including former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, that the effort was aimed at every nonwhite candidate in the race.
The state party chairman responded that his letter was not aimed at any specific candidate.
“It’s not something I lose sleep over,” Hicks said when asked about the racial claims. But he added that the voter surveys will be conducted by Los Angeles-based Evitarus, the state’s only Black- and Latino-led full-service polling firm, and will oversample historically underrepresented communities: Latino, Black and Asian American voters.
Hicks said the polling will cost “multiple six figures” but did not specify the exact amount.
The first poll will be released on March 24, and then five additional surveys will come out every seven to 10 days until voters start receiving mail ballots in early May.
“We’re putting this forward to ensure everyone is armed with the information they need to clearly have an eyes-wide-open assessment of where the state of the race currently is between now and when ballots land in the mailboxes of voters,” Hicks said.
Politics
Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’
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President Donald Trump outlined five key items he believes will tip the upcoming midterm elections in the GOP’s favor — if Republicans can muscle them through Congress.
“No transgender mutilation surgery for our children,” Trump told an audience at the Republican Members’ Issues Conference. “Voter ID, citizenship [verification], mail-in ballots, we don’t want men playing in women’s sports.”
“It’s the best of Trump. Those are the best of Trump. This is the number one priority, it should be, for the House,” Trump said.
Trump’s exhortations to Republican lawmakers come as the GOP wages an uphill campaign to hang on to a controlling majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He framed his legislative priorities as a way for Republicans to capitalize on popular demands within the GOP base that would increase their chances of preserving a Republican governing trifecta.
President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One before departing Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1, 2026. (Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
HOUSE REPUBLICANS PUSH ELECTION OVERHAUL WITH VOTER ID, MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES AHEAD OF MIDTERMS
Currently, Republicans hold just four more seats than Democrats in the House of Representatives.
The GOP holds six more than Democrats in the Senate.
To keep the numbers in their favor, Republicans will need to beat historical trends. In the vast majority of past cases, parties that capture the White House in presidential elections face blowback in the midterms. Notably, the last time a majority party gained seats in both chambers of Congress in the midterms came under the Bush administration in 2002, following devastating attacks on the World Trade Center.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, left, and President Donald Trump shake hands during an Invest America roundtable in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, District of Columbia, on June 9, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
REPUBLICANS, TRUMP RUN INTO SENATE ROADBLOCK ON VOTER ID BILL
Trump said he believes Republicans have a shot at bucking the trend come November if they focus on his list.
“It’ll guarantee the midterms,” Trump said of his legislative priorities.
Republicans have already taken strikes towards two of them through the SAVE America Act, a piece of legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and cast a ballot. That bill cleared the House last month for a second time in the 119th Congress.
Its future is uncertain in the Senate, where Republicans would need the assistance of seven Democrats to overcome the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster. Democrats, for their part, believe the legislation would disenfranchise voters who cannot readily provide documented proof of citizenship through a passport, REAL ID, or birth certificate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. has promised a vote on the package despite its long odds.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, talks with a guest during a “Only Citizens Vote Bus Tour” rally in Upper Senate Park to urge Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Several members have introduced bills on transgender issues, although none of them have cleared either chamber.
“I’ve never been more confident that if we keep these promises and deliver on this popular agenda, the American people will stand with us in overwhelming numbers, just as they did in 2024,” Trump said.
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Trump reveals top issues GOP should focus on to secure midterms victory: ‘I’ve never been more confident’
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