Our escalating political wars are claiming the lives of real people — violent deaths that are predictable and preventable.

The latest victim is Renee Nicole Good, an anti-ICE activist shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, as she was maneuvering her Honda SUV in his direction while he and other officers were demanding that she exit the vehicle. We’re now all trying to deconstruct the two- or three-second blur that went from angry shouting to bullets in the air. Was she a domestic terrorist bent on running down an ICE agent? Did he have reason to fear for his life and resort to lethal force?

Each political side claims to know the answers to those questions with absolute certainty, and of course, each blames the other for what happened. Over time, the details may be resolved to some degree through rigorous investigation and/or a jury trial. But the damage is done, and it is already very clear that whatever transpired in that blink of an eye, Ms. Good did not deserve to die, and Mr. Ross is not a cold-blooded killer.

Interestingly, there seems to have been immediate and universal agreement that such a tragedy was inevitable. But if we all knew it was going to happen, why were we unable to prevent it?

Evidently, finger-pointing is more enticing than problem-solving. Mayor Jacob Frey offered his own solution, demanding angrily that federal agents “stay the f**k out of Minneapolis!” And Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in his remarks following the shooting, actually said something sensible (probably a slip of the tongue), complaining bitterly that the federal agents in Minnesota are operating independently, without coordination with local authorities. He’s exactly right, but his comments fell short of explaining that collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement is expressly prohibited by state and city sanctuary policies.

While it’s tempting to believe that the potential for such tragic consequences is the direct result of the Trump administration’s ICE apprehension of illegal immigrants, I believe the seeds were planted much earlier, specifically by:

• The Biden administration’s deliberate actions to open the southern border, turning a chronic, troublesome leak of illegal entries into a wholly unmanageable four-year flood — the obvious root cause of all that followed.
• States and cities declaring themselves to be immigrant “sanctuaries” — an expression of warm welcome to our new immigrant neighbors (we are often reminded that we’re “a nation of immigrants”), but one that somehow failed to recognize the difference between legal and illegal entry or the danger posed by unidentified criminal entities preying on U.S. citizens.
• Donald Trump’s election vow to find and deport those illegal migrants — arguably the position that put him in the White House.

From that point, with battle lines drawn, both sides have continued to add fuel to the combustible situation. Sanctuary cities and states have mounted organized resistance to ICE enforcement actions in the form of guidance, encouragement, training, funding, and, in some cases, financial compensation for anti-ICE activists. (As one grim example, reportedly, Good had been “trained” to use her vehicle and to put herself in harm’s way in order to make it more difficult for ICE agents to do their jobs.)

And in keeping with his own combative nature, President Trump has reacted with his own increasingly aggressive measures to counter the increased resistance to ICE and follow through on his commitment to deport illegal aliens.

With that highly visible, escalating confrontation, what happened on the icy streets in Minneapolis last week is surely not surprising. And it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine for a moment the alternative: that Minneapolis Police, even if unhappy with the ICE operations in their city, might have made the job safer for all by controlling traffic — including interference from the trained ICE-activists who intentionally get in the way. If they had, Agent Ross could have been doing his job apprehending dangerous illegals rather than sparring with the hectoring Good and other activists.

The shooting of Renee Good would be a tragedy, even if a one-time aberration, but it’s not. It’s just the latest in a series of violent incidents involving both sides of the ICE wars, including weaponized vehicle maneuvers, death threats, doxxing, pelting agents and their vehicles with bricks, rocks, iceballs, and several shootings involving both ICE agents and their antagonists.

Also, let’s not forget the Charlie Kirk assassination, the two attempted assassinations of President Trump, the foiled assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — very different manifestations of political violence, but similar in genesis and consequence.

Along with the absence of mystery as to the major contributors to this brand of politically motivated violence — and particularly that related to handling of illegal immigrants — steps needed to combat it are equally obvious, although at the same time very challenging. In my view, they are:

1.) Cancel sanctuary status for states and cities, asap. The president should take the lead, exploring and acting on creative ways to do so, including executive orders, incentivizing through restrictions on federal funding, and engaging congressional and judicial support as needed. This will be a knotty constitutional matter for sure — the effect of actions within the purview of states and cities that affect safe and effective implementation of federal law — but it must be resolved.

2.) Similarly, it is high time for the establishment of reasonable limits in obstruction tactics that can be employed against ICE (or other federal enforcement actions), consistent with the First Amendment right to protest. This is again a fundamental issue of American federalism, but it begs for resolution. The pendulum has swung too far.

3.) And once again (as argued in my columns on several occasions) I believe the president should reexamine and revise our policy regarding mass deportation of illegal immigrants, to include provisions for conditional U.S. residence (tax-paying, noncitizen status) for those who self-identify and are determined not to pose a threat to public health and safety. Lately, there has been very clear emphasis by ICE on apprehending “the worst, first,” particularly in ICE’s very aggressive Minnesota actions. But for the balance of the president’s current term, we must have well-defined and achievable deportation targets, with absolutely clear focus on dangerous illegal immigrants, and reasonable provisions for those not in that category.

4.) And — PLEASE — let’s knock off the inflammatory rhetoric. Could its harm be any more clear? We’ve seen enough!