A Los Angeles-based activist Monday called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to enact a so-called “no shooting” policy.
Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable Earl Ofari Hutchinson conducted a news conference Monday morning in downtown’s Fashion District, where he urged the department to ensure that U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents do not shoot their weapons unless “there’s a legitimate, genuine real threat to the life of an agent.”
The pledge comes from DHS’ 2018 policy, which reads: “The use of excessive force is unlawful. Those who engage in such misconduct and those who fail to report such misconduct will be subject all applicable administrative and criminal penalties.”
Hutchinson said he has requested meetings with First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“We also not only asked for a meeting, but also asked her to look at their own policy, and we’re hoping, we’re very optimistic, about the meeting too,” Hutchinson told KNX News.
A representative for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hutchinson’s remarks come in response to the fatal shootings of Los Angeles resident Keith Porter Jr., who was shot by an off-duty ICE officer on New Year’s Eve in Northridge, and Minnesota resident Renee Nicole Good, who was shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis in early January.
“Homeland Security and ICE gun policy clearly states that deadly force can only be used under the most extreme circumstances,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “There has been no proven weapons threat to ICE agents during its sweeps.”
“Since ICE will continue to engage in L.A. sweeps the danger of another tragic shooting is real. ICE officials can prevent the recurrence of the Good and Porter shootings by adopting a no-shoot pledge in its sweeps,” Hutchinson added.
Federal officials have defended the shootings.
The DHS issued a statement saying the unidentified agent who shot the 43-year-old Porter “bravely responded to an active shooter situation.”
Local activists, however, said Porter was not an active shooter, although he was firing a weapon into the air to celebrate New Year’s Eve — a practice routinely condemned by law enforcement officials.
Federal officials said an ICE agent fatally shot Good, 33, in self-defense, and they accused her of trying to “weaponize” her vehicle and run over law enforcement officers after interfering with an illegal immigration-enforcement operation on Jan. 7.
Noem called Good’s actions an “act of domestic terrorism” and part of an escalating trend of assaults and attempted attacks on immigration agents nationwide. She said an ICE agent was injured by Good’s vehicle and treated at a hospital.