Over the past few weeks two people — Renee Nicole Good, the mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at a Minnesota VA hospital — were shot and killed by Department of Homeland Security personnel on the streets of Minneapolis.
Both were 37 years old. Both were U.S. citizens.
Members of the U.S. House from Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky have spoken out about the deaths of Good and Pretti, and their opinions run the gamut from anger at ICE and the Trump administration to those who say they are “appalled” by those who see ICE as poorly trained thugs
David Taylor (R, OH-2)
One of the latter was Rep. David Taylor, an Amelia Republican who took office a year ago, taking over the 2nd District seat of Republican Brad Wenstrup, who retired from Congress.
Taylor has yet to say anything since the death of Pretti, but, earlier this month, after Good was killed, Taylor went on the conservative radio show of Brian Thomas on 55WKRC and defended the ICE personnel, saying they “are there taking care of their constitutional duties.”
“People like the mayor of Minneapolis and the governor of Minnesota are out there saying 'we are going to resist you,' ” Taylor said.
“One thing that was said in the wake of this that was unbelievably appalling was the mayor of Minneapolis saying it was not self-defense when it looked to me like it certainly was self-defense.
“The governor follows this up by saying we’re going to call in our National Guardsmen to oppose federal officers there to perform their duties,” Taylor said. “It actually made me sick to my stomach to hear those comments.”
Greg Landsman (D, OH-2)
The Democratic congressman from Ohio’s 1st District, Rep. Greg Landsman, has an entirely different view of the crisis in Minneapolis. He’s appalled too, but at ICE and the Trump administration, not his fellow Democratic elected officials in Minnesota.
“What’s going on in Minneapolis should terrify every American,” Landsman said in a video message to constituents he posted on his official page and on social media. “This has been an eight-week occupation of an American city and it has created a very legitimate and deadly public safety emergency.”
“People are seeing this with their own eyes,” Landsman said. “They are seeing that both of these murders are disturbing and genuinely f**ked up.”
The Department of Homeland Security, Landsman said, is “defying a judge’s order to hand over evidence to local law enforcement.”
Landsman called on his Republican colleagues in the House to join in the calls for ICE to leave Minnesota. He would also like to see legislation that would require ICE to enter into a memorandum of understanding (or MOU) with local law enforce agencies in any city where they have ICE personnel on the ground.
Thomas Massie (R, KY-4)
Across the river in Northern Kentucky, 4th District Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican, left a simple message on the situation on X — a message related to the Trump administration’s claims that ICE reacted as it did in the shooting of Pretti because the ICU nurse was carrying a gun.
In Minnesota, both concealed and open carry of firearms is legal with a permit. Pretti had a permit.
“Carrying a firearm is not a death sentence,” Massie said in the post. “It’s a constitutionally protected God-given right.”
Warren Davidson (R, OH-8)
Republican Rep. Warren Davidson reached back to the first term of the nation's first president, George Washington, and the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 to justify ICE actions in Minneapolis in Jan. 2026.
It was a violent protest movement in which Western Pennsylvania farmers fought against the first federal excise tax on spirits, which was enacted to pay off Revolutionary War debt.
Washington, Davidson said on his Facebook page, “responded to the Whiskey Rebellion with 13,000 troops, the people submitted to the Constitutional authority of the federal government. 24 leaders of the rebellion were convicted of treason.”
Davidson wrote that “Federal authority must prevail in this clear Constitutional crisis. States have authority over many things — 10th Amendment. But, citizenship and the lawful or unlawful presence of foreign nationals is not one of them.
“Defending foreign nationals against the lawful enforcement of United States immigration law is open rebellion. Open rebellion must end, beginning in Minnesota.
“Illegal immigration undermines our sovereignty. All accomplices, beginning with Alejandro Mayorkas [former director of Homeland Security under President Biden], must be charged, tried, convicted, and given long sentences. Open rebellion cannot stand!
“While the Insurrection Act is fully merited, learn from counterinsurgency operations that the means employed always matter.
“Thankfully, the Whiskey Rebellion ended peacefully and force wasn't ultimately required. I pray for the same peaceful but decisive outcome in Minnesota: our Constitution prevails and the rebellion stops.”
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