Legitimacy and accountability are inseparable. In a democracy, law enforcement derives its authority not from weapons or uniforms, but from adherence to the law, internal discipline, and the confidence of the public it serves. When accountability disappears, legitimacy collapses -- and what remains is not law enforcement, but coercive force directed at a civilian population.

That is the context in which Americans must understand the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 7, 2025.

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This response is not an aberration. Across the country, ICE agents have increasingly engaged in provocative, escalation-driven encounters rather than de-escalation. The pattern bears the hallmarks of top-down encouragement to act aggressively. Training in use-of-force discipline and crisis management appears inadequate. Most dangerously, agents operate with the confidence that political leadership and right-wing media will shield them from consequences, regardless of the outcome. That sense of impunity is corrosive and deadly.

When a federal law-enforcement agency exempts itself from its own rules, disregards established investigative procedures, treats lethal force as presumptively justified, and flouts the law, it forfeits its legitimacy. At that point, reform is no longer optional; it becomes a public-safety imperative.

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This moment matters because it fits a broader and deeply alarming pattern. President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated a preference for personal loyalty over institutional restraint. ICE, increasingly militarized and insulated from oversight, is becoming something closer to a personal force than a civilian law-enforcement agency. Its activities now extend well beyond immigration enforcement, appearing increasingly focused on inflaming protests and intimidating communities. The prospect of ICE interference at polling locations or in future democratic processes is no longer theoretical.

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