After Renee Good was killed during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, conservatives have tried to pull out what they clearly thought was a gotcha: “Oh, now you care? I didn’t see you posting about Laken Riley’s murder.”
That response isn’t just cynical, it’s intellectually dishonest.
What to Know…
Not all violence is equivalent – crimes committed by individuals and deaths caused by government policy must be evaluated differently, especially when accountability mechanisms differ.
State violence is predictable and preventable – deaths connected to ICE operations and detention result from systemic choices, not isolated accidents.
Weaponizing victims distorts justice – using Laken Riley’s murder to deflect criticism of government actions contradicts even her family’s expressed wishes and undermines genuine accountability.
Let’s start with the part that apparently needs to be said out loud: no one should be murdered. Not anywhere. Not by anyone. The idea that caring about one woman’s death somehow requires silence about another is grotesque. Grief is not a loyalty test.
But the comparison being made here isn’t about grief. It’s about deflection.
Laken Riley was murdered by an individual. A single person committed a crime, was arrested, prosecuted, convicted on multiple charges, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. No one, literally no one, is arguing that her killer should be released, excused, or granted immunity. That is how the justice system is supposed to work when an individual commits an act of violence.
What happened to Renee Good is categorically different.
Deaths linked to ICE operations and detention are not random acts. They are the foreseeable outcome of government policy. When people warn for years that detention conditions are dangerous, that medical care is inadequate, that oversight is minimal, and that accountability is almost nonexistent, and then someone dies, that is not a tragic surprise. That is a system functioning exactly as designed.
The same goes for the increasing normalization of masked, heavily armed federal agents operating in communities with little transparency and even less local accountability. When critics say this is a recipe for disaster, and someone ends up dead, pretending that outcome was unavoidable is a lie.
And now, to make matters worse, we have officials at the highest levels of government openly floating the idea that ICE agents should enjoy near-total immunity. That should chill anyone who believes in the rule of law. Immunity doesn’t prevent abuse; it invites it.
This is the crucial distinction that gets intentionally blurred: Individual crimes are punished while state violence is protected.
That’s why invoking Laken Riley’s name in these conversations is so offensive. Her death is being weaponized to shut down criticism of government power, not to honor her life.
Even her own parents have said as much. After her murder in February 2024, they focused on justice, not political theater. Her father, Jason Riley, publicly expressed distress over her death being turned into a political wedge ahead of the November election. He said he feared it had “incited people” and lamented that her death had become “a storm in our country” rather than a moment of reflection and accountability.
That should matter.
Using one woman’s murder to excuse or distract from state-sanctioned violence against others doesn’t honor victims. It exploits them. Anyone making that comparison isn’t engaging in good faith; they’re either deeply confused about how power works, or they’re counting on you to be.
And frankly, that’s the most disturbing part of all.