Los Angeles activists call for ICE to enact "no shoot pledge"
An activist group in Los Angeles is calling on federal immigration enforcement officers to enact a "no shoot pledge" in light of the recent killings of Keith Porter in Northridge and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
During a news conference in LA's Fashion District on Monday, Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson said Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security as a whole have failed to follow their own use-of-force policy.
"We're concerned about one thing, and one thing only," he said. "Violence. Shooting ... We've called for a no-shoot pledge."
Hutchinson specifically cited a portion of the policy under officers' "duty to intervene in and report improper use of force."
"The use of excessive force is unlawful and will not be tolerated," the policy reads. "Those who engage in such misconduct, and those who fail to report such misconduct, will be subject to all applicable administrative and criminal penalties."
He told officials to "enforce your own policy" with what he deemed to be excessive force, including firearm violence. He said his activism group has requested a meeting with First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and has reached out to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to tell her to review the policy.
When asked for a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed that officers use deadly force only in self-defense situations.
"Our officers only use lethal force in defense of their own lives, the lives of their fellow officers, and for the safety of the public," she said. "ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers. Officers are highly trained in de-escalation tactics and regularly receive ongoing use-of-force training."
The DHS use-of-force policy includes a section about the deadly use of force, which it says must be "objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the [law enforcement officer] at the time force is applied."
The "objectively reasonable" situation must include when officers believe the subject poses an "imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury" to themself or another individual. The act of unholstering, gripping or aiming a firearm by an officer does not constitute as a use of deadly force, per DHS policy.
The calls for the DHS to enforce stricter precautions on their use-of-force policy come after a pair of high-profile killings, including one in Los Angeles.
On New Year's Eve, Keith Porter shot a firearm into the air to mark the new year, his family claims. At one point, an off-duty ICE agent who lived in the same apartment complex as Porter came outside armed with a firearm.
In the aftermath, McLaughlin said the off-duty agent fired "defensive" shots after Porter "fired at least three rounds" at him.
In Minneapolis, Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent while sitting in the driver's seat of her vehicle during a verbal confrontation with another agent.
McLaughlin and other federal officials described Good as a "violent protestor" who "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them." Meanwhile, skepticism has grown across the nation, with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey using an expletive-ridden rant to discount the federal government's narrative.
"Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: that is bulls***," Frey said in a news conference the day of the shooting. "This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed."