Could the ICE agent who killed a woman in Minneapolis (USA) be convicted?

Mineápolis.- The Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, assured that the agent of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) who killed an American woman last Wednesday in Mineápolis, enjoys «absolute immunity», although according to what he explained to EFE Emmanuel Mauleón, an expert in police law at the University of Minnesota, this protection «does not apply» to federal agents. "Federal agents do not enjoy absolute immunity. JD Vance stated it, but there is no legal basis for such a statement," assured Mauleón, a law professor at the campus located in the city where the event occurred. The Donald Trump administration has stated from the outset, although the investigation is in its initial phase, that the agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, acted in self-defense because Renee Good, 37, tried to run him over with her vehicle, and that, therefore, he is innocent.

"This is a federal law enforcement agent participating in a federal police operation. It's a federal matter. That individual is protected by absolute immunity. He was fulfilling his duty," Vance said at a press conference at the White House.

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However, Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County Attorney, where Minneapolis is located, denied that the agent has this protection.

Other immunities if acting within the law

"You are entitled to other types, such as supremacy immunity, which means that, as long as the agent acted in a manner authorized to enforce federal law and in a way necessary and appropriate to achieve those ends, their conduct would be immune," the professor pointed out. "However," Mauleón continued, "if he acted negligently, recklessly, or unjustifiably, as established in the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution (which protects people from unreasonable searches or seizures), that supremacy immunity does not apply to him."

The professor indicated that "in any case" in which an agent uses lethal force and "there are doubts about whether it was justified", this "could be held responsible for any crime, from reckless endangerment to manslaughter or murder". The agent could be charged under state law, which includes the crime of manslaughter and murder, or under federal law, which could charge him with "intentional deprivation of constitutional rights," he commented.

The conviction of the officer who killed George Floyd

For Mauleón, this situation bears certain parallels to the police officer who killed George Floyd in May 2020 during an arrest in Minneapolis, whose death sparked a wave of anti-racist protests across the country under the slogan 'Black Lives Matter'. The agent Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter and sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison, by a state court, and sentenced to 21 years in prison in a federal court for depriving Floyd of his constitutional rights.

The other three agents present were also convicted of violating the victim's rights by not intervening to stop their colleague's force.

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The fear of a "not very transparent" investigation

The FBI is leading the investigation into Good's death and has the evidence in its possession. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and City Mayor Jacob Frey have requested that state agencies be part of the investigation, but they report that the Trump administration has blocked their access to the file. The county prosecutor's office has opened a channel to receive videos of the shots as well as other evidence from residents since, although they circulate on social media, they cannot use them in the investigation if they are not presented through formal channels. «There is great concern that this will lead to an investigation that is not transparent, incomplete, and unfair, especially considering that the Government, ICE members, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Trump himself have already determined that this person acted justifiably before the investigation was carried out», warned Mauleón.