{"id":78515,"date":"2026-01-09T06:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/americans-have-long-been-skeptical-of-ice-that-debate-just-became-a-lot-more-urgent\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T06:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:24:17","slug":"americans-have-long-been-skeptical-of-ice-that-debate-just-became-a-lot-more-urgent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/americans-have-long-been-skeptical-of-ice-that-debate-just-became-a-lot-more-urgent\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans have long been skeptical of ICE. That debate just became a lot more urgent."},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n One day \u2013 probably very soon \u2013 college psychology and political science lectures will be based on what happened Wednesday in Minneapolis.\n <\/p>\n

\n Videos emerged almost instantly of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shooting and killing a motorist<\/a>. But politicians and many Americans \u2013 those on social media, at least \u2013 quickly came to starkly different conclusions<\/a> about what had happened and who was at fault.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s still very early. But generally, people who tended to support President Donald Trump and his deportation policies quickly sympathized with the still-unnamed ICE agent, arguing he feared being run over by the 37-over-old driver, Renee Nicole Good<\/a>. Trump critics tended to quickly label it murder, arguing the fleeing woman was turning her car away from the officers. (CNN has a good video breakdown<\/a> that shows how the incident unfolded from multiple angles.)\n <\/p>\n

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\n Virtually everything in our polarized society is a Rorschach test these days, but this might be Example A1 in the Trump era. And it will take some time to see which view Americans side with more.\n <\/p>\n

\n But one thing is clear at this early juncture: The scene Wednesday in Minneapolis has injected urgency into a debate over ICE and its controversial tactics.\n <\/p>\n

\n Americans have been quite skeptical of ICE<\/a> for much of the past year. Now we have a flashpoint that could move or harden views about one of the most significant ways in which Trump has recast American society.\n <\/p>\n

\n To the extent Americans sympathize more with the agent, it could marshal support for the administration\u2019s claims that such agents need<\/em> to engage the way they did on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n To the extent Americans believe this was murder, it could epitomize a perceived overzealous heavy-handedness and contribute to the political unraveling of Trump\u2019s often-militarized mass-deportation project, has been so central to the president\u2019s second term.\n <\/p>\n

\n Virtually every sign before Tuesday was that Americans were inclined toward the latter view \u2013 that ICE is too heavy-handed:\n <\/p>\n

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