Scores of protesters took to the streets in lower Manhattan Thursday as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a news conference, urging New York lawmakers to work with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents a day after an agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis.

Demonstrators gathered outside One World Trade Center, condemning Noem and calling for ICE to leave New York City. Some held signs with Noem’s picture, while others chanted [expletive] “immigration” in Spanish.

“There’s a cold-blooded murderer in a press conference on the 50th floor,” one protester shouted. “Kristi Noem, whose hands are not even dry yet from the blood of our sister Renee.”

At a news conference inside One World Trade Center announcing the results of an enforcement operation, Noem doubled down to defend the ICE agent who fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a mother of three, on Wednesday, claiming Good hit an ICE agent with her car in “an act of domestic terrorism.”

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press...

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference Thursday. Credit: AP/Yuki Iwamura

Good was driving home after dropping her 6-year-old son off at school when she encountered federal agents on a residential street, according to her ex-husband. She was a U.S. citizen with no past charges beyond a traffic ticket.

Videos show one officer approaching her car window and grabbing the door handle, while another standing in front of the car immediately shot at her in close range at least twice. An analysis by The New York Times shows the car was driving away from, not toward, the officer who pulled his gun.

“She ran him over,” President Donald Trump told the outlet on Wednesday. “She didn’t try to run him over. She ran him over.”

On Thursday, Noem called out several lawmakers, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, saying they should tone down the political rhetoric and start collaborating with federal agencies.

“The rhetoric that’s coming out of elected officials is dividing people and pitted them against each other,” Noem said. “I’d encourage the leaders in this city and your governor, and other cities and states across this country to work with us rather than opposing us.”

Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Hochul, said New York can’t be made safe “by targeting families, children and hardworking New Yorkers.”

“As Secretary Noem already knows, this Administration is committed to working with federal law enforcement to crack down on gang members and violent criminals, but we will not support attacks on New York’s communities,” Tepper added. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey disputed the government’s description of what happened. Gov. Tim Walz called it a “propaganda machine,” describing the shooting as “totally avoidable.”

“We’ve got thousands of officers there, and I’m not opposed to sending more,” Noem said on Thursday.

“This is an experienced officer who followed his training,” she said, adding that he had worked with ICE for “a number of years.” Noem did not answer questions about whether he was suspended, instead saying he was spending time with family.

On Wednesday, Noem said the officer, whom officials have not named, was attacked in a June incident “by an anti-ICE rioter who had rammed him with a car and dragged him.”

“He sustained injuries that time as well,” she said.

Good and others followed and harassed federal officers “all day,” Noem claimed. Asked by a reporter for specifics, she declined to answer.

Noem appeared in New York to unveil the results of a joint operation by federal law enforcement and prosecutors stemming from the July shooting of an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officer.

More than 70% of those arrested by ICE were already facing criminal charges or convictions, Noem said at the news conference. But data shows the opposite is true: As of November, nearly 74% of detainees had no criminal convictions, according to the Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Several Long Island officials spoke out about Wednesday’s fatal shooting.

State Sen. Charles Lavine (D-North Shore) wrote in a statement, “Americans of good faith condemn the murder of Renee Nicole Good, and we condemn the cheap demagogues who issued false statements damning her while her corpse was still in her car and her blood still fresh on the Minneapolis snow.

“There is a special place in hell for any official who would try to politically monetize this American tragedy.”

With The Associated Press