{"id":117694,"date":"2026-01-30T19:15:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/117694\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T19:15:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:15:26","slug":"reps-meeks-meng-join-bp-richards-to-demand-ice-accountability-following-fatal-minnesota-shootings-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/117694\/","title":{"rendered":"Reps. Meeks, Meng join BP Richards to demand ICE accountability following fatal Minnesota shootings \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks and Grace Meng<\/a> joined Queens Borough President Donovan Richards at Borough Hall Jan. 29 to demand accountability for ICE agents involved in the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis this month.<\/p>\n

Elected officials also called for ICE to immediately cease operations in Minnesota and stop \u201cterrorizing communities\u201d in Queens during the event.\n<\/p>\n

Meeks, Meng and Richards joined a number of local faith leaders at the Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Borough Hall to call for a comprehensive, independent investigation into the shootings of Good and Pretti. They also called for ICE to be defunded until significant \u201cguardrails\u201d are introduced.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoU.S. Reps. Grace Meng and Gregory Meeks joined Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and a number of faith leaders at Queens Borough Hall Thursday afternoon. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud.
\nDemocrats demand investigations after fatal shootings<\/p>\n

Good was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross when she attempted to pull off from a traffic stop in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. The Trump Administration has alleged that Good had attempted to run Ross over with her car and that the agent was acting in self-defense. Democratic lawmakers have heavily disputed this, demanding a criminal investigation into the shooting.<\/p>\n

Pretti, meanwhile, was shot multiple times by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on Jan. 24 during a protest against ICE presence in Minneapolis. Pretti, who was carrying a legal firearm in a holster, had been attempting to help a woman who had been shoved to the ground by agents when he was pepper-sprayed and wrestled to the ground by several CBP agents, a separate agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).<\/p>\n

Widespread footage of the incident appears to show agents removing Pretti\u2019s firearm from the scene before other agents fired up to 10 shots, appearing to contradict DHS claims that officers had fired defensive shots.<\/p>\n

Meeks accused the Trump Administration of unleashing \u201cbrutality\u201d on American streets through current immigration enforcement policies, adding that the U.S. is currently in a \u201cdangerous place.\u201d He demanded independent investigations into both shootings during Thursday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n

He also noted that House and Senate Democrats are currently negotiating with their Republican counterparts to \u201cstop taxpayer dollars\u201d from reaching DHS, which covers ICE, CBP, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service.<\/p>\n

Senate removes DHS funding from spending package<\/p>\n

On Jan. 29, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate reached an agreement to remove funding for DHS from a package of six spending bills.<\/p>\n

The deal approves funding for the the treasury, the federal court system, the Health Department, the War Department (previously the Department of Defense) and other agencies until Sept. 30. DHS funding will continue at its current level for two weeks while both sides work out a new deal to fund the agency.<\/p>\n

Meeks said that ICE should be \u201cdefunded\u201d as part of the deal.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are negotiating and working on something to stop the madness,\u201d Meeks said. \u201c(Republicans should) work with Democrats to stop taxpayer dollars from flowing to the hands of an administration set on brutalizing our communities and killing those who stand in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

DHS did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump Administration, however, has consistently defended ICE in the past, with Vice President JD Vance incorrectly stating that Ross is protected by \u201cabsolute immunity\u201d in the shooting of Good. Vance also defended Ross by stating that the officer was \u201cdoing his job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, has also objected to defunding ICE, stating that he will \u201cnot keep ICE from doing their job.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American people wanted the president to enforce law and order and ICE is doing their job,\u201d Mullin told NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meeks, however, insisted that he would only vote in favor of funding for DHS if lawmakers included provisions to \u201cfix the issues with the DHS,\u201d including banning the use of masks by ICE agents, mandating that ICE agents must wear body cameras and mandating that agents must have a judicial warrant.<\/p>\n

Fatal shootings are \u2018shocking and sickening\u2019<\/p>\n

Meng, meanwhile, described the fatal shooting of Good and Pretti as \u201cshocking and sickening\u201d and added that communities across Queens had been \u201cterrorized\u201d by federal immigration authorities since President Donald Trump took office 12 months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horrifying footage speaks for itself,\u201d Meng said. \u201cIt is shocking and sickening, but it\u2019s not just about the two of them. It\u2019s also about so many others in Minneapolis and in New York, right here in Queens, who have been terrified and terrorized by ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Rep. Grace Meng. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud.<\/p>\n

Meng alleged that the vast majority of Queens residents detained by ICE have \u201cnever been in trouble with the law.\u201d She also demanded accountability for ICE agents involved in fatal shootings in Minnesota and \u201cunjust detention\u201d of constituents in Queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything in this country demands accountability right now, it is the actions of these ICE agents,\u201d Meng said. \u201cThese violent thugs and their bosses have no place in our law enforcement agencies. When the people who are supposed to keep us safe are shooting Americans in cold blood in Minneapolis or kidnapping my constituents in Queens, something is deeply wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meng vowed to use \u201cevery tool at her disposal\u201d to demand accountability from ICE, noting that she voted against a DHS funding package last week as well as co-sponsoring legislation calling for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached.<\/p>\n

Richards says ICE should be abolished<\/p>\n

Richards, on the other hand, called for ICE to be abolished in a fiery speech that slammed ICE as the \u201cAmerican Taliban.\u201d The Borough President said there is no alternative but to abolish ICE because it can no longer exist in its current state.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t fix what they\u2019re doing,\u201d Richards said.\n<\/p>\n

He said immigrant families are \u201cliving in fear\u201d in Queens, preventing them from accessing schools, work, health services and churches. He added that his office has received reports of ICE agents waiting outside schools to \u201csweep families off their feet.\u201d Richards further described ICE as \u201cDonald Trump\u2019s Gestapo\u201d in the address.<\/p>\n

\"QueensQueens Borough President Donovan Richards. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueens might not look occupied like Minneapolis, but the mental and emotional scars our families bear are just the same,\u201d Richards said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve all seen on video, of course, cannot be whitewashed. It can\u2019t be covered up, and it will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investigations can\u2019t be \u2018covered up\u2019<\/p>\n

Meeks also said officers involved in the shootings of Good and Pretti should be held accountable, stating that there was \u201cno real threat\u201d to officers in either situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be an investigation that is covered up,\u201d Meeks said.\n<\/p>\n

Meeks alleged that there are similarities between ICE and police in authoritarian regimes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBursting out of cars with masks on, breaking down doors and indiscriminately taking people into custody. Well, history shows that did take place in Nazi Germany,\u201d Meeks said.\n<\/p>\n

He said Congress must defund ICE in its current form, adding that the agency should only target undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of committing crimes, particularly violent crimes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not fund them until they change,\u201d Meeks said. \u201cThere are changes that have to be made. There need to be guardrails. There needs to be more transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE, in its current form, cannot exist.\u201d
\n\"ReverendReverend Jeffrey Courter, pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills. Photo by Ramy Mahmod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks and Grace Meng joined Queens Borough President Donovan Richards at Borough Hall Jan. 29…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[50229,9496,3945,877,16660,2035,2036,9,24,63,122,51898,124,123,44544],"class_list":["post-117694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-alex-pretti","tag-dhs","tag-donovan-richards","tag-grace-meng","tag-gregory-meeks","tag-ice","tag-kristi-noem","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-borough-hall","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-renee-good"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}