Renee Good’s Brothers in the Capitol: “We Thought Her Death Would Change Something – It Didn’t”

Luke and Brent Ganger stood in the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday before members of Congress and said sentences that cannot be dismissed as a “statement.” They were family members who had to explain why their sister Renee Good is dead – and why her death has not triggered any change in course to this day. Renee Good was shot and killed by a federal officer in Minneapolis in January. She was 37 years old, a US citizen, a mother. One month later, her family says: We hoped that this country would at least pause at this point. It did not happen.

Luke Ganger spoke about how the pain of Renee’s loss, in a violent and unnecessary way, is even harder to bear because it mixes with disbelief and growing despair. In recent weeks, the family had taken comfort in the thought that Renee’s death might bring about change. That hope has been shattered. He said such encounters with federal officers change entire communities and many lives forever, including that of his family. It is not “a bad day,” not “a rough week,” not a series of isolated incidents. For him, it is a pattern.

Brent Ganger read from the eulogy he had written for his sister a few days earlier. He described Renee as “steadfastly hopeful.” He became visibly emotional, struggling with his voice. He did not just want to tell what happened, but who she was: a mother who immersed herself in her children, who held her family together, who had a heart that did not stop, despite everything. He reached for an image from the eulogy and compared her to a dandelion: you pull it out, you trample it down, and it comes back. Stronger, brighter. This image was not decoration. It was an attempt to set something human against a violence that is long being sold as a “normal operation.”

The forum in Washington was not tailored only to Minnesota, even though Minnesota hung in the room like an open knife. The event was meant to show how federal officers are using force as part of the current deportation policy – in cities governed by Democrats, across the country. And yet Minnesota was the focal point. Because there, operations have escalated for more than two months: thousands of arrests, repeated clashes with protesters, an atmosphere in which people feel control has been lost. And it did not stop with Renee Good. Alex Pretti, also 37 years old, also a US citizen, an intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis just weeks after Renee Good. Two dead, two families, two names burned into the city.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a weapon aimed at a human face – forever. America 2026, more precisely America on February 3, 2026” - (Kaizen Blog)

In the Capitol, Democratic lawmakers called for restrictions on federal agencies, but the division was also apparent: one group demands clear rules, more oversight, visible identification of officers. Others go further and call for political consequences up to and including impeachment proceedings against the Secretary of Homeland Security. Still others speak of abolishing ICE altogether. There was agreement on two points: officers should not be allowed to hide their faces, and they should not operate without judicial authorization in situations that affect civil rights. In addition, there should be binding rules on when force may be used, and independent investigations after firearm deployments like those in Minneapolis.

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano is 10 years old, a fourth grader in Columbia Heights, part of her school community since kindergarten. On January 6, in the first week after winter break, she left home in the morning with her mother Rosa, on the way to school. She never arrived there. Officers from the immigration authorities stopped them and took both into custody. Elizabeth still called her father Luis. She was told she would be taken to school. He left immediately, waited in front of the building, spoke with the administration, with teachers, with the school leadership. Elizabeth did not come. At the end of that day, he learned that his daughter and his wife had already been transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center (Dilley, Texas). They are still there. Here is the article

Minnesota’s governor described the operation on the same day as chaotic and unsettling. He also criticized the detention of children and wrote to the Secretary of Homeland Security that many students were afraid to go to school at all. He is calling for a return to rules as they existed before the current escalation: no operations at schools, no pursuit of families in places that should actually offer protection. When parents no longer let their children go in the morning because they fear a uniformed officer might be waiting somewhere, that is no longer a political debate, but everyday life.

Renee Good’s brothers were excused after their statements. They did not have to answer questions, they were not interrogated, they were not meant to “debate.” It was a clear message: we are here to ask for help. Luke Ganger said this explicitly. And he spoke about something many push aside because it is so hard to bear: how to explain to a four-year-old child what these agents are doing in the city, when driving past surreal scenes, masks, weapons, arrests. He said openly that to this day he does not know.

Republican lawmakers were not present in the room. The gap was visible. Senator Richard Blumenthal thanked the brothers and spoke of an appeal to the conscience of the country. Another lawmaker said Congress must intervene when fundamental rights are violated. A lawyer for the family also spoke, as did several US citizens who reported violent encounters with federal officers. Not as a headline, but as experience.

Renee Good was mentioned in this room not only as a victim, but as a person. That was the actual point. And at the same time, the brothers’ sentence lingers: we thought her death would change something. And it did not. If a city loses two US citizens, shot by federal officers, and the tactics remain the same, then the question is no longer whether something is going wrong. Then the question is how many more deaths it will take before anyone listens at all.