The family of a Minneapolis woman who died during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is turning to a high-profile legal team long associated with some of the lefts most polarizing cases.
According to Western Journal, the relatives of Renee Nicole Macklin Good have retained the Chicago-based firm Romanucci & Blandin, the same outfit that secured a $27 million civil settlement for the family of George Floyd. The firm confirmed in a Wednesday statement that it would represent Goods parents, siblings and her self-described wife, immediately positioning the case as a national flashpoint rather than a local tragedy.
The firm opened its announcement with a plea for calm, a notable choice given that anti-ICE agitation has already shown signs of escalating into unrest. The family of Renee Nicole Macklin Good is calling for peace, the statement began, as the attorneys appeared to anticipate the potential for the kind of street chaos that has followed previous high-profile confrontations with law enforcement.
The appeal, however, quickly shifted from conciliation to condemnation of federal officers and the government they serve. Peace not only across Minneapolis, a city in shock about her swift and cruel death at the hands of federal agents on a residential street, but peace in cities across the country where Americans are increasingly and understandably distressed by the conduct of the federal government that defies our constitutional values and sows chaos in our communities, the announcement continued, casting ICE as a destabilizing force rather than a law-enforcement agency tasked with upholding immigration law.
The firm went on to declare, What happened to Renee is wrong, contrary to established policing practices and procedures, and should never happen in todays America. That sweeping assertion comes despite the existence of extensive video evidence indicating that Goods own actions during the encounter were far from beyond reproach. Conservatives wary of the blame the officer first narrative will likely note that such footage has often been downplayed or ignored when it complicates a preferred storyline.
Romanucci & Blandin then attempted to frame Goods death in moral and almost slogan-like terms. Be Good. That is the clear message from her family as Renees wish to the world, the statement read, turning her surname into a rhetorical device. These words also encompass the mission of their attorneys, who they have retained to not only seek accountability for her death but also to honor her life with progress toward a kinder and more civil America.
The firm insisted that Goods memory should not be weaponized for partisan gain, even as its own language painted federal enforcement as inherently suspect. They do not want her used as a political pawn, but rather as an agent of peace for all, the announcement said, a line that will strike some observers as at odds with the broader effort to nationalize the case and attack ICE. For many on the right, this pattern is familiar: a tragic incident is quickly leveraged to undermine law enforcement and expand the scope of federal liability.
The attorneys also took aim at the official investigation, suggesting that authorities are withholding critical information from the public. Importantly, the legal team intends to conduct its civil investigation with an understanding that transparency is essential in this case of national importance, the firm declared, signaling its intention to run a parallel inquiry. The community is not receiving transparency about this case elsewhere, so our team will provide that to the country.
Founding partner Antonio M. Romanucci portrayed his firms involvement as a response to widespread public concern. People in Minneapolis and across this country truly, truly care about what happened to Renee Good on January 7, 2026, and are committed to understanding how she could have been killed on the street after dropping her child off at school, he said, invoking the image of a mother in a routine daily act. They want to know what could and should have been done to let Renee live and pick her child up safely from school that afternoon. As often as possible, our team will promptly and transparently provide updates on what we learn.
Romanucci further pledged, We are committed to providing Good transparency and Good accountability, which we ultimately hope leads to Good policing. We will be that voice. His firms track record underscores why activists and progressive media are already rallying around the case: as CBS News noted, Romanucci & Blandin previously helped the Floyd family secure that unprecedented $27 million payout from Minneapolis, a settlement that many critics argue has encouraged a wave of costly litigation and chilled proactive policing.
Floyd died in May 2020, and the settlement followed a year later, amid intense political pressure and nationwide unrest. With the same legal team now stepping into another highly charged confrontation involving law enforcement, the Good case is poised to become the latest battleground in the broader struggle over immigration enforcement, public safety and the rule of lawraising serious questions about whether the pursuit of peace will once again be overshadowed by efforts to weaken those tasked with upholding it.
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