A slow death, which occurred years ago, went unnoticed by many at the time. However, that death got full attention in a January 7 exchange involving The Hill associate editor Niaill Stanage and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

    The recent shooting death by ICE of anti-ICE protester Renee Good while driving her car in Minneapolis sharpened a focus on the earlier death—that of an independent press once committed to reporting truth.

    It is important to understand the facts surrounding the Minneapolis shooting in order to appreciate the lack of integrity demonstrated by Stanage.

    Whether Good intended to run over Jonathan Ross, an ICE agent, while driving her car is immaterial. What is material is the fact that she did strike him in the process of fleeing, inflicting internal bleeding on his torso.

    Having tracked the ICE unit’s activities that morning, Good arrived as it had just completed its mission. Purposefully parking her car in a diagonal position in the middle of the street, she blocked ICE, which awaited road assistance for a vehicle which had become stuck in the snow.

    Despite ICE orders to remove her vehicle, Good refused to do so. Ordered to exit her car, she again refused to do so. Three ICE agents approached her, ordering her to exit, and again she refused. One officer had his hand on the driver side door handle as Good, receiving encouragement from her same-sex partner—who had exited the car to film the incident—to “drive baby, drive.” The vehicle quickly lurched backward, before then just as quickly, lurched forward. Accelerating in a clear effort to escape with Agent Ross in front of her, Good appeared ready to run him over.

    Despite Ross’s effort to get out of the way, Good struck him. Simultaneously, Ross—who had already been dragged 100 yards in a similar incident during a 2025 arrest—pulled out his gun and fired at Good, killing her.

    It is against this factual backdrop Stanage asked Leavitt his question, absent any effort to put things into perspective by providing facts. He claimed Ross had unjustifiably and “recklessly” killed Good, ignoring any details exonerating him. Leavitt appropriately called Stanage a “left-wing hack” only posing as a journalist.

    Stanage criticized Leavitt for claiming ICE was doing “everything correctly,” suggesting the deaths of 32 people in ICE hands last year and the detention of 170 U.S. citizens indicated otherwise. As Stanage sought to make illegal aliens look like victims, Leavitt suggested he did no research to understand why such immigrants represented a danger to America.

    Perhaps Stanage should have taken the time to interview victims of illegal immigrant violence such as 12-year old Jocelyn Nungary, or 22-year-old Laken Riley. Alas, he cannot, as they are but two on a long list of murdered Americans. Did Stanage know more than 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens with criminal convictions or pending charges?

    Leavitt acknowledged this:

    Unfortunately, Stanage is not alone in prioritizing a political agenda over truth. He ignored too that Good’s former father-in-law held no animosity towards Ross, suggesting Good had made a bad decision. But to sell news, the mainstream media (MSM) irresponsibly and deceitfully villainizes ICE, triggering protests by those lacking knowledge of facts MSM will not report.

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been left to debunk many of MSM’s untruths. Were Stanage interested in truth, visiting the DHS website explaining exactly what false claims MSM are promoting and why those claims lack credibility would have been helpful. Meanwhile, ICE agents simply doing their job to protect us are demonized by protesters accepting the words of Stanage and others as gospel.

    In the aftermath of Good’s shooting, the anti-ICE media now criticizes the agency for dragging people out of their cars for failing to abide by its orders. While ICE attempted to be nice, for the safety of both its agents and anti-ICE protesters, it now must show it is serious about acting at the first sign of non-compliance.

    Meanwhile, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey—prioritizing voter support over the law—calls for ICE to “get the fuck out” of his city, also erroneously claiming Ross was not struck by Good’s car. Administering a dose of reality, Frey’s police chief says anti-ICE protesters are violent and will be arrested. Fellow Democrat, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, told Minnesotans to film agents during their operations.

    Interestingly, neither politician suggested protesters refrain from interfering with ICE operations. Their past silence has no doubt already contributed to a rise in assaults against ICE by 1,300% and death threats by 8,000%. Also, in the aftermath of Good’s shooting, there is now a rise in monitoring ICE operations and doxxing agents. Both politicians are now under investigation for impeding federal law enforcement agents. Ironically, Democrat leaders who build walls around their own property—such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—fail to recognize the U.S. must have walls as well.

    As Minnesotan politicians failed to encourage non-violence, a federal judge perhaps applying reverse logic made it clear—he told ICE not to retaliate against those “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.”

    Any death is tragic and Good’s is no exception. However, the fact that ICE has arrested over 352,000 aliens, obtained—at 73,000—the highest detainee population in history and deported another 352,000, only experiencing 32 deaths in the process, is impressive. This is especially true based on the violent behavior of both alien criminals and anti-ICE protesters. Those numbers would increase if ICE were left alone to do its job.

Meanwhile, California’s Democrat governor, Gavin Newsom, quickly backtracked on his claim that ICE was committing “state-sponsored terrorism.”

    Such indifference to violence against ICE may have led to an illegal Venezuelan immigrant’s violent attack with a shovel against an agent—this in the aftermath of Good’s death and the anti-ICE publicity that followed. The illegal was shot in the leg and hospitalized. This political anti-ICE support undoubtedly is what encouraged protesters to steal DHS weapons from one of its vehicles.

    A shocking development occurred when a Minnesotan high school, holding an anti-ICE parade with proud liberal parents looking on, turned violent as students started fighting among themselves. It was cut short by community “marshals” ironically there to protect students from ICE.

    Anti-ICE comments by Stanage and others have forced Ross into hiding. Some critics are ridiculously calling for the abolition of ICE, blind to the reality of its consequences. As tensions rise, Trump threatens to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act.

    On his Newsmax program, Greg Kelly criticized MSM’s sentimental rush to judgment and how it uses selective empathy to weaponize anti-ICE sentiment.

    There could not be a more one-sided example of MSM leftist bias than that reflected by Stanage’s question. Its duplicity clearly crosses the line of journalistic integrity, endangering the lives of ICE agents. Such an inexcusably biased question tells us that truth died long ago, today existing as but the ghost of media past.