Agents In ICE Shootings Made Racist or Sexist Remarks, Records Show

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross captured himself on video saying “fucking bitch” after killing Renee Good in January. 

ICE agent Brian Palacios, who killed Keith Porter, a 43-year-old Black man, in an off-duty New Year’s Eve shooting, has been accused of making racist remarks about Black people and Latinos, court records show.

In body camera footage released in mid-February, an unidentified agent in Chicago was heard telling Marimar Martinez to “do something, bitch,” before Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum shot her five times in the arm in October. 

These are some of the derogatory remarks immigration officers involved in shootings have been recorded or accused of saying, according to court documents, video footage and public records. 

Capital & Main counted 13 people who have been shot — five of them fatally — by officials with ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security since June 2025, when President Donald Trump launched a surge of masked agents into American cities. The tally relied on news reports and video footage and was limited to people who were shot and hit by bullets. 

Other outlets, such as The Trace, have counted a higher number of shootings by immigration agents including incidents where people were shot at, but not struck by gunfire, as well as those hit with rubber bullets, pepper balls and other so-called less lethal munitions.

The identities of most of the DHS agents involved in shootings have been kept secret, but five have been identified by journalists at the Los Angeles Times, The Intercept, and ProPublica using public records. None of the agents have been criminally charged.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol, has come under scrutiny before for racism, misogyny and misconduct among its agents, and the department itself has also been accused of discriminating against Latinos, Muslim Americans and other communities of color.

DHS, created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, soon began targeting Muslim people for surveillance, interrogation and detention. Its surveillance operations have also monitored political movements led by people of color such as Black Lives Matter, immigration rights groups and environmental organizations. 

In 2019, a Facebook group maintained by thousands of Border Patrol agents came under congressional inquiry after agents shared posts featuring manipulated images of men sexually assaulting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joked about migrants who died while trying to enter the United States and made racist comments about Central Americans. In September 2020, nurse Dawn Wooten reported that dozens of women detained in ICE custody were given unwanted hysterectomies and gynecological procedures. In 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision allowing ICE to racially profile people for immigration stops. 

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Minnesota Killings 

The conduct and views of DHS agents has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of public outcry over agents’ fatal shooting of two white U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January, and the Trump administration’s rush to blame them for their own deaths. 

On Jan. 24 in Minneapolis, 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti was wrestled to the ground by a group of armed agents. Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Officer Raymundo Gutierrez of Customs and Border Protection shot Pretti several times, killing him. One of the agents who was part of the group wrestling with Pretti was captured on video applauding as Pretti is shot. 

ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, a mother of three, in Minneapolis. Video taken by Ross captures him calling her a “fucking bitch” after shooting her. 

The federal government initially justified both of the shootings, but has shifted its stance in the weeks following the incidents. Within hours of the killing of Renee Good, and before any investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem labeled Good’s actions an “act of domestic terrorism.” 

After Pretti’s shooting, Noem initially claimed that agents killed him because he wanted to “attack” them, even though that information was inaccurate. Axios reported that Noem and other White House officials have shifted to blaming CBP and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a driving force behind the administration’s far-right, anti-immigration agenda.

Trump initially made a baseless claim that Good was part of a network of paid leftwing agitators, and suggested her “highly disrespectful” attitude played a role in her killing. In a subsequent interview with NBC News, he said that he was not happy with the two incidents. 

“He was not an angel and she was not an angel. You know, you look at some tapes from back, but still, I’m not happy with what happened there. Nobody could be happy and ICE wasn’t happy either,” Trump said. “No, it should have not happened. It was very sad to me, a very sad incident. I think they were both sad,” Trump said.

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Off-Duty Death in Los Angeles

On New Year’s Eve, Keith Porter Jr., a 43-year-old father of two, was fatally shot by off-duty ICE agent Brian Palacios outside of his apartment in Los Angeles. A cousin of Porter told Capital & Main in an interview that Porter had been firing a newly acquired gun into the air to celebrate the new year before he was killed. 

Palacios has used racist slurs to refer to Black people, according to court documents. Porter was Black. 

During a hearing last year, the children of Palacios’ live-in girlfriend, through an attorney, accused him of using homophobic slurs and making racist remarks about Black and Latino people, according to a court transcript. The children also said that Palacios beat his own children with a belt that left visible marks, prompting the agent to keep one of the children home from school, according to the transcript.

Other court records detail an incident where Palacios showed up at one of the children’s soccer games with a gun. 

In February 2025, a judge barred Palacios from contact with the children following the allegations, according to court records. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Los Angeles Police Department dismissed the abuse allegations, but court filings show the order was upheld last June.

A request for a restraining order shows Palacios’ ex-wife also accused him of assault, pressuring her for sex, and kicking in a door in her home. Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department took a domestic violence report at her residence in April 2011 identifying Palacios as the suspect.

Palacios’ attorney did not respond to voicemails and emails requesting comment. 

Jamal Tooson, an attorney for Porter’s family, said he had turned over the information about Palacios to the LAPD, which is investigating the shooting. 

“We are asking that the [California] Attorney General Rob Bonta conduct an independent investigation based off of these allegations,” Tooson said at a press conference in January. “This could be race related, and certainly a hate crime.” 

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who is leaving DHS, said in a statement that Palacios heard Porter firing a weapon from his apartment, then went outside with a gun. McLaughlin said Palacios identified himself as law enforcement and shot Porter after Porter pointed the gun and refused to drop it. 

None of the building’s security cameras captured the encounter, E&S Ring Management, the company that manages the apartment complex where Porter was killed, said in an email.

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Chicago Shooting

On Oct. 4, 2025, 30-year-old Marimar Martinez was shot in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood as residents confronted agents in the area. In recently released body camera footage, an unidentified agent can be heard telling Martinez, “Do something, bitch,” before Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot her. Martinez was hit in the arm five times, leaving seven wounds, according to court records. 

She survived the shooting yet was charged with felony assault after agents accused her of ramming her vehicle into theirs. A judge dismissed the charges against Martinez in November at the request of the Department of Justice after video evidence presented in court contradicted federal officials’ account. 

Text messages Exum sent in the wake of the shooting bragging about his actions were also entered into evidence. 

“I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” Exum wrote in a message. 

“Shit happens,” he continued. “I’m up for another round of ‘fuck around and find out.’” 

Exum also gloated about the media attention his actions received. 

“Sweet. My 15 mins of fame. Lmao”

Exum and a DHS spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment. 

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Officers’ Limited Immunity

Experts say that an officer having prejudiced views has no impact on criminal charges or civil liability for on-duty shootings, but off-duty shootings are different. 

Agents are granted immunity for their on-duty actions in federal courts. The Constitution gives ultimate authority in the United States to federal law and courts, which means any case brought against a federal agent would likely go to federal court, which would grant them immunity. But when agents are off duty, they could be liable for state charges, which includes past prejudices established in an investigation.  

Candace McCoy, professor emeritus of criminal justice at the CUNY’s Graduate Center, said that Palacios should be prosecuted by Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman. 

“This is an individual person who shot another person. He should be prosecuted,” McCoy said. “And if the racial issue is relevant to a criminal prosecution, bring it in.”  

In the death of Keith Porter, McCoy said DHS’ assertion that Palacios identified himself as law enforcement does not mean he was immune when he shot and killed Porter.

“You’re only immune for your actions taken in the course of your employment,” she said. “It would be a question of facts for a jury as to whether this person was acting as law enforcement. And, quite frankly, it doesn’t sound like to me like it was.”

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in an email that officers with the office’s Justice System Integrity Division responded to the scene and will review all evidence disclosed by the pending investigation to determine whether Palacios acted lawfully. 

“If you commit a crime, there aren’t protections because you have a particular title,” said Aramis Ayala, executive director of local district attorney network Fair and Just Prosecution. “You can and should prosecute people to ensure equal justice under the law. It is my hope there is a commitment to doing so and not relieving someone of their responsibility to follow the law because they are a law enforcement officer.” 

However, it is unlikely that these officers will be criminally charged and, therefore, have that past behavior considered by a court or jury, experts say. 

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Demands for Reform

DHS requires that member agencies, such as ICE, take steps to minimize the risk of injury and risk to the public, and requires officers to be proficient in de-escalation tactics. However, Business Insider and Type Investigations found that ICE’s training materials do not address de-escalation, and instead encourage uses of force. 

A publicly available use-of-force training document from 2016, previously reported on by Business Insider, said it was a “myth” that use of deadly force could be used only as a last resort.

“Using the minimal force, exhausting all lesser means of force, or always giving a warning could create an unnecessary risk for the officer,” the document says. 

Lawmakers were unable to agree on a bill to fund DHS, prompting a partial government shutdown. The killings of Good and Pretti, who were both white, have galvanized Democrats in Congress to take action in pursuit of accountability. Among their demands are a code of conduct for all federal officers, a mask ban, identification requirements and body cameras. But an increase in the use of body cameras has not been proven to reduce police shootings. Despite the fact that over 80% of police departments in the U.S. use body cameras, there were a record number of fatal police shootings in 2024. 

Democrats are also seeking stricter requirements for judicial warrants to enter private homes and spaces. Federal agents are required to have these to make a forcible entry, yet an internal memo from Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, told agents that the judicial warrants were not necessary. 

Speaker Mike Johnson has pushed back on the demand for judicial warrants, calling it an “unworkable proposal.”

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