Minneapolis Protests, Immigration Enforcement Shootings, Running Venezuela

Summary

Up First from NPR — Episode Summary

Episode Title: Minneapolis Protests, Immigration Enforcement Shootings, Running Venezuela
Date: January 9, 2026
Hosts: Steve Inskeep, Emi Martinez
Reporters/Guests: Meg Anderson, Sergio Martinez Beltran, Danielle Kurtzleben, John Sandwick

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1. Overview of the Episode

This episode focuses on three major news stories:

• Protests in Minneapolis after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman
• A surge in shootings by federal immigration enforcement agencies nationwide
• The future of Venezuela under new U.S involvement following the ousting of President Maduro

The hosts and NPR correspondents break down the details, investigate the patterns behind recent law enforcement actions, and analyze U.S. foreign policy moves under President Trump.

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2. Key Discussion Points & Insights

Minneapolis Protests after ICE Shooting

• Protests in Minneapolis entered their second day following the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Goode by ICE agent Jonathan Ross ([02:33], [04:15]).
• The federal government, via the FBI, has taken over the investigation, leaving state officials and Minnesota authorities without access ([04:15]).
• Tensions are high but the protests remain largely peaceful, with demonstrators undeterred by freezing rain and icy conditions ([03:17]).
• The victim, Renee Goode, is described by her mother as “the kindest person she’s ever known” and not involved in any “anti-government” activity; she was a mother of three and small business owner ([05:25]).

Surge in Immigration Enforcement Shootings

• Recent week saw two shootings:
  • Portland, OR: Agents shot two people during a traffic stop; information remains limited ([02:37]).
  • Minneapolis, MN: The shooting that sparked ongoing protests ([03:10]).
• Noted increase in shootings since Trump’s return to office last year. At least 14 shootings in ICE raids since then according to The Trace, a nonprofit focused on gun violence ([06:32]).
• ICE operations have grown more aggressive, including door-to-door searches for undocumented immigrants — described as “unusual” and “unsettling” ([06:32]).
• Critics argue agents are not trained for crowd control and deploying them in that role is creating a “toxic stew” ([08:12]).
• Shift in tactics seen as the direct cause of increased violence ([08:30]).

Federal Response & Perception

• Federal authorities, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary Christine Noem, are defending ICE's actions and doubling down on aggressive tactics ([09:00]).
• Victim Renee Goode was labeled as an “extremist” by some officials, a claim refuted by her family and friends ([05:08], [05:25]).
• Civil liberties organizations, like the ACLU of Minnesota, accuse the administration of enabling federal law enforcement to act “with impunity” ([07:39]).

U.S. Involvement in Venezuela

• U.S. oil executives are meeting with President Trump to discuss “the future of Venezuela" after U.S.-backed ousting of Nicolás Maduro ([09:43]).
• President Trump indicated in an interview with The New York Times that the United States would be "running Venezuela" for "much longer than expected" ([10:09]).
• Plans include U.S. oversight of Venezuelan oil sales, with proceeds distributed for the “benefit of the American and Venezuelan people” — though the specifics remain vague ([10:45]).
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined three phases: stabilization, recovery (including civil society rebuilding), and transition ([11:12]).
• Trump has not ruled out sending ground troops, leaving the option open ([12:08]).
• There are ongoing, somewhat tense, interactions with Colombia, Venezuela’s neighbor, around the evolving situation ([12:21]).

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3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On new ICE tactics:
  • John Sandwick, former ICE acting director:

    "Tasking the agents with being the front line on the crowd control, you're creating a toxic stew there." ([08:12])

• On frequency of ICE shootings:
  • Sergio Martinez Beltran:

    “There have been at least 14 shootings in ICE raids since Trump took office last year… The Trump administration has, you know, definitely ramped up its immigration crackdowns in a big way.” ([06:32])

• On protester resolve:
  • Protester Caitlyn English:

    “It’s been sad, but it’s also been uplifting because we understand what’s right and what’s wrong. Seeing community come together for this cause and uplift other places to be inspired, it’s amazing.” ([03:17])

• On the victim's reputation:
  • Meg Anderson:

    “[Her Pinterest page] is filled with the things of a normal human life, ideas for recipes and haircuts, plans for a garden and tips on parenting… and fun things to do with them in the summer.” ([05:25])

• On administration’s Venezuela plans:
  • President Trump (via NYT interview):

    “I would say [the U.S. will be in Venezuela] much longer than that… And we have to rebuild the country. And we will rebuild it in a very profitable way.” ([10:36]–[10:45])

  • Trump (on limits to power):

    “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality, my own mind, it’s the only thing that can stop me.” ([12:21])

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4. Important Timestamps

• 00:02 — Overview: Protests continue in Minneapolis after ICE-involved shooting
• 03:10 — Eyewitness accounts and protester reactions
• 04:15 — Release of shooter’s identity; federal takeover of shooting investigation
• 05:25 — Victim Renee Goode’s family and background
• 06:32 — Analysis: Rise in shootings by ICE agents since Trump’s return
• 08:12 — Ex-ICE director critiques misuse of ICE agents in crowd control
• 09:00 — White House defense and administration’s enforcement policies
• 09:43 — U.S. convenes oil execs for talks on "running" Venezuela
• 10:36–10:45 — Trump/NYT interview: U.S. plans for Venezuela, profitable rebuilding
• 12:08 — U.S.-Colombia diplomatic moves and Trump’s expansive view of his powers

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5. Summary Flow

• The episode begins with heightened community tension in Minneapolis and a deep look at the protest movement, driven by a sense of injustice and frustration over federal investigative opacity.
• Reporting zooms out nationally, connecting recent and past lethal ICE operations to the Trump administration’s escalated enforcement and strategic shift, with experts warning these tactics are both unprecedented and hazardous.
• In international policy, the hosts detail the new ambiguous U.S. role in Venezuela, outlining the administration’s plans to control the oil sector and rebuild the country, and highlighting the ongoing uncertainty and risk of further escalation—both militarily and diplomatically.

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For listeners:
This episode delivers dense, up-to-the-minute reporting on civil unrest at home and major policy pivots abroad, combining on-the-ground accounts with investigative and expert perspectives. It captures both the human and systemic stakes of fast-unfolding news on immigration enforcement and foreign intervention.

Transcript

[Steve Inskeep]

Protests extended into a second day in Minneapolis after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman.

[Meg Anderson]

ICE out now. ICE shut down.

[Emi Martinez]

The federal government has taken over the investigation, leaving state officials shut out.

[Steve Inskeep]

I'm Steve Inskeep with a Martinez. And this is up first from NPR News. A former acting director of ICE says immigration agents are pursuing different strategies than.

[John Sandwick]

In the past, tasking the agents with being the front line on the crowd control. You're creating a toxic stew there.

[Steve Inskeep]

Is there some connection between the tactics and the number of shootings in the past year?

[Emi Martinez]

Also today, oil executives meet with President Trump after he said the US Would run Venezuela much longer than expected. What is the end game? Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start a day.

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[Emi Martinez]

Two incidents this week call attention to shootings by federal immigration authorities.

[Steve Inskeep]

One was in Portland, Oregon. We have very limited information so far. The Department of Homeland Security says agents shot two people during a traffic stop and that the two people drove away. DHS issued a statement casting all blame on the people who were shot. That is what the Homeland Security secretary also also did after a shooting in Minneapolis that was caught on video. People in Minneapolis want immigration agents out of their city after an ICE officer shot and killed 37 year old Renee Goode on Wednesday.

[Emi Martinez]

NPR's Meg Anderson is in Minneapolis. Meg, you were at the protest we just heard from last night. So what's the mood there like?

[Meg Anderson]

Yeah, you know, it's been somber here and mostly peaceful but defiant. At the march last night, the weather was awful. A freezing rain was coming down. A lot of the sidewalks were covered in a sheet of ice and there were still hundreds of people there. Community members were chanting, holding signs with messages like ice melts under resistance. I saw one in Spanish saying we scream for those who can't. Most of the protesters I spoke with told me the shooting on Wednesday made them more angry than afraid. People like Caitlyn English. She lives in the Twin Cities. It's been sad, but it's also been uplifting because we understand what's right and what's wrong. Seeing community come together for this cause and uplift other places to be inspired, it's amazing. And you know, she told me she stood on this same street five years ago protesting the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and says she felt the same way back then. Okay.

[Emi Martinez]

Now what can you tell us about the shooting itself?

[Meg Anderson]

Well, there's been two big developments in the last day. The first is that NPR has confirmed the identity of the ICE agent who killed Good as Jonathan Ross. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security have said that he is an experienced officer, not a recent hire. The second development is that the FBI took over the investigation and state authorities say they do not have access anymore to evidence in the shooting. That means that the federal government is the only entity looking into a shooting committed by an agent of the federal government. Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls questioned whether that investigation would be fair.

[Emi Martinez]

Do you know if federal officials have spoken much about the victim?

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Any good?

[Meg Anderson]

Yeah, a witness told NPR that, you know, they thought she was a legal observer and federal authorities have used that to label her as an extremist. Here's how Vice President J.D. vance described her.

[Emi Martinez]

That woman is part of a broader.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Left wing network to attack, to dox.

[Emi Martinez]

To assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.

[Meg Anderson]

But, you know, that is just not how her family and friends have spoken about her.

[Emi Martinez]

Oh, so tell us how they've been describing her.

[Meg Anderson]

Well, a reporter from the Minnesota Star Tribune, spoke with Good's mother. She described her as the kindest person she's ever known, said she was not involved in any kind of anti government activity. Good was the mother of three kids. The youngest is about six years old. We know she had a home repair business with her wife in Kansas City. We also found what appears to be her Pinterest page. And you know, that page, to put it simply, is filled with the things of a normal human life, ideas for recipes and haircuts, plans for a garden and tips on parenting like how to soothe a child's anxiety and fun things to do with them in the summer.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

All right.

[Emi Martinez]

That's NPR's Meg Anderson. Meg, thank you.

[Meg Anderson]

You're welcome.

[Emi Martinez]

After border agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon city officials there called it a pattern of violence.

[Steve Inskeep]

So how much of a pattern is there? It can be hard to judge by one or two news events like we've had this week. Certain incidents get a lot of attention, others do not. So in this story we will take a wider view.

[Emi Martinez]

Let's go to NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran. Sergio, you've covered shootings by immigration authorities before. How often do they happen?

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

You know, it seems like they're becoming more frequent. According to the Trace, which is a nonprofit news organization that focuses on gun violence, there have been at least 14 shootings in ICE raids since Trump took office last year. Now, NPR hasn't independently confirmed all of these incidents, but we've reported, reported on some of them. The Trump administration has, you know, definitely ramped up its immigration crackdowns in a big way. We heard Vice President J.D. vance yesterday say immigration agents in Minneapolis were going door to door to find undocumented immigrants, which is unusual. Usually ICE operations are targeted. And these shootings could be a terrible side effect of this approach.

[Emi Martinez]

Yes. Tell us more about these shootings by Homeland Security officers.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Yeah. You know, last year in Chicago, a Mexican immigrant was killed after attempting to drive away from immigration agents. Also in Chicago last year, Border Patrol agents fired at a woman while she was still in her car, injuring her. So what happened in Minneapolis this week is something we've been seeing since President Trump launched his immigration enforcement operations. That's according to De Pinder Mayel, the executive director of the ACLU of Minnesota. This is really part of a broader.

[Emi Martinez]

Pattern of misconduct, and the Trump administration has essentially emboldened federal forces to act with impunity.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

That misconduct can be seen on the way ICE is arresting people, Mayel says others tell me it's palpable in the way agents deal with protesters.

[Emi Martinez]

So on that, I mean, are ICE agents prepared? Do they know how to handle, how to engage with protesters?

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Crowd control is not the role of ICE agents. In fact, they are not trained to do it. That's what John Sandwick tells me. He served as ICE's acting director during the Obama administration.

[John Sandwick]

The way in which this administration is deploying the agents, the way in which, you know, and especially with tasking the agents, with being the front line on the crowd control, you're creating a toxic stew there.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

And Sandwich tells me that ICE has made millions of arrests in nearly two decades. But this uptake in shootings is new.

[John Sandwick]

And it's a direct byproduct of this shift in tactics that we saw really beginning in March where the administration started promoting and these surges of agents and for these very flashy high profile operations in cities.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

And this is an important point because, you know, people in law enforcement I've talked to say that publicizing in advanced operations like the ones in Minnesota makes things dangerous for both the ICE agents and the public. And that's where we are right now.

[Meg Anderson]

Yeah.

[Emi Martinez]

And the administration, though, seems to be doubling down on this.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Right, Right. You know, they're fiercely defending the agent who shot good. Vice President Vance yesterday downplayed the circumstances of the shooting, saying what you see is what you get in this case. Ban said the agent did it in self defense. He also blamed good for the shooting and even news organizations. But none of this seems to be stopping the administration's goal of arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants. DHS Secretary Christine Noem has said her agency will continue carrying out enforcement operations across Minneapolis and the country.

[Emi Martinez]

All right, that's NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran. Thanks a lot.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

You're welcome.

[Emi Martinez]

Executives from United States oil companies will meet at the White House today to talk about the future of Venezuela.

[Steve Inskeep]

The Trump administration ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this past week. In an interview with the New York Times, President Trump seemed to say the United States could be running Venezuela, giving orders there for years to come. So what would that look like?

[Emi Martinez]

NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben is here to update us on this. So, Danielle, tell us about the details we know.

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

Well, the overarching answer there is that there's just a lot we don't know. For example, we don't know what cooperation between the U.S. and Venezuela's interim President Delta Rodriguez even looks like right now. But now we know that the US could be there for some time. Here's the exchange between Trump and Times reporters as posted on the Times website.

[Meg Anderson]

How long do you think you'll be running Venezuela? Only time will tell.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

Like three months, six months, A year?

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

Longer?

[Emi Martinez]

I would say much longer than that.

[Meg Anderson]

Much longer.

[John Sandwick]

And we have to rebuild.

[Meg Anderson]

You have to rebuild the country. And we will rebuild it in a very profitable way.

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

On that note, the administration said this week that the US will take 30 to 50 million barrels of oil, sell it, and oversee the money. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt also said that the money will be dispersed, quote, for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people. But again, we don't know what that looks like. However, today, Trump will meet with oil company execs to talk about all of that.

[Emi Martinez]

So what else have they said about the Venezuelan oil well?

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

Rubio has laid out three main phases to what comes next. That Secretary of State Marco Rubio first is to stabilize Venezuela. Second, he said, is recovery, which involves opening access to the Venezuelan market. But also he said that would involve reconciliation and rebuilding civil society. Third, he said, would be transition. But once again, there's a lot we don't know about that. For example, when he talks about civil society, is that nation building and how involved is that? And there's one more thing left open ended here. When the Times asked Trump what would prompt him to send ground troops into the country, he said he didn't want to answer that to a reporter. So Trump is leaving the possibility open for boots on the ground, though none are there right now. Now, we did get more information overnight. Also, Trump posted that since cooperation is going well, he has canceled a second wave of attacks on the country, but that US Ships would stay nearby.

[Emi Martinez]

And so here's something else, too, because Trump has also threatened Venezuela's neighbor to the south, Colombia. And in the middle of that interview with the Times, he stopped to take a call from the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro. So what's happening between the US And Colombia?

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

Well, that call was off the record, so the Times didn't report what was said. But afterward, Trump posted on social media that it was an honor to talk to Petro. He said they talked about their disagreements and that Trump looks forward to meeting in the near future. But that turnabout with Colombia really underscores that Trump's foreign policy worldview is that he can do what he wants. The Times asks, are there any limits on your foreign policy powers? And he said, quote, yeah, there is one thing. My own morality, my own mind, it's the only thing that can stop me. Now, all of this is maybe not surprising, but still stunning. I mean, Trump is a staunch unilateralist, but not only that, he's one for whom foreign policy can be personal and potentially affected by a phone call.

[Emi Martinez]

All right, that's NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Thank you very much, Danielle.

[Danielle Kurtzleben]

Of course.

[Emi Martinez]

And that's up first for Friday, January 9th, Emi Martinez.

[Steve Inskeep]

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Fear of civil unrest is driving a new group of people to the gun range.

[Sergio Martinez Beltran]

What I'm talking about is protecting myself from a situation where there may be some kind of chaotic civil unrest and the streets become something we don't recognize.

[Steve Inskeep]

This weekend, on The Sunday Story, NPR's Frank Langfitt explains what's driving more liberals, people of color, and LGBTQ folks to exercise their right to own guns. Listen to the Sunday story right here on NPR's Up first podcast.

[Emi Martinez]

Today's episode of Up first was edited by Gigi Duban, Rebecca Metzler, Mohamed El Bardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Buch, Milton Gavada, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zoe Van Denhoven. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott. Our executive producer is Jay Shaylor.

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