Kristi Noem is the domestic terrorist

What can Christians learn from this case and apply to their service in their own countries?

Kristi Noem, head of the US Department of Homeland Security, during her visit to the notorious prison in El Salvador where the US was sending some deportees.

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. —Luke 6:27–28

Last week, a US immigration enforcement officer shot a woman dead as she was driving away in her car.

It might be hard for people in many countries to understand what is so unusual about that. In many parts of the world, if the police think someone is a threat to public order, they simply shoot that person dead. There is nothing to restrain them and the victims have no way to pursue justice.

That is not how things work in the US. We have laws and court precedents that limit how law enforcement officials can use force. Police are trained to use only the amount of force needed to resolve a conflict or danger situation. If they do not observe these laws, they can be prosecuted and jailed. Most notably, police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for causing the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Well, I guess I should say that is not how things worked until now.

I spent 15 years helping to write and edit law enforcement training curricula. No topic was covered more thoroughly and frequently in those curricula than the proper use of force. So I feel more qualified than the average citizen to comment on the available video evidence regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross’s killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7, only about a mile away from where Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd.

Officers have to make split-second decisions in high-pressure situations. Although, ideally, Ross should never have put himself at risk by moving into a position near the front of Good’s car, it does appear that as Good backed up and then moved forward, she may have bumped Ross. It is conceivable that a court might accept Ross’s claim that his first shot was in self-defense.

But the second and third shots were fired as Good was driving away and posed no threat to anyone. Ross then used profanity to describe the victim.

In a normal situation, Ross would be prosecuted and almost certainly convicted for firing those two shots. But this is not a normal situation. Rather than permitting an impartial investigation into this tragedy to proceed, Kristi Noem, who heads the US Department of Homeland Security, called the victim a “domestic terrorist” who had “weaponized” her vehicle. Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has prevented the state of Minnesota from participating in the investigation. Who thinks a fair investigation can take place when Noem and President Trump have already indicated what they think the outcome should be?

Actually, Kristi Noem is the domestic terrorist. She has misused law enforcement resources, which are intended to maintain peace and order, to wage war against peaceful citizens who disagree with her ideology. She has displayed her cruelty in other ways, such as by flying to El Salvador for a photo opportunity at that country’s notorious CECOT prison and in tasteless social media posts boasting of the administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.

As further proof of the lawless, unjust approach being pursued by the US government, three professional prosecutors resigned from their jobs today due to their disagreements with how the Department of Justice is handling the case.

We cannot expect a secular government to model Christian virtue, but we can expect it to administer justice fairly and respectfully. The US used to be a good model of that. Our decline from that status is discomforting, to say the least. But my friends in India might say they experience similar threats every time a Hindu nationalist accuses a Christian of a crime.

Our ability to impact the justice system varies widely depending on what country we live in. However, we can all obey Jesus’ encouragement in Matthew 25 to pay special attention to the powerless. We exhibit our Christian mission most powerfully when we are willing to do things nobody else is willing to do, such as visiting prisoners and advocating for their humane treatment, seeking to ensure that accused persons get proper legal representation, or speaking out against selective targeting of minority groups.

I know this is not easy. In many places, speaking up for justice brings with it a risk of being arrested or kidnapped. Sometimes, the only way to speak up safely is to flee the country first. But for a Christian, the risk of doing nothing can be greater.

If we are open to standing up for justice, we may see smaller opportunities to serve others that don’t offend the government. Twenty-five years ago, one of my daughter’s competitors at a youth athletics meet was unjustly removed from a race because an error in the meet program caused her not to check in at the proper time. We successfully fought for her reinstatement, even though the other runner could have taken my daughter’s spot at the national championships. Perhaps your local calling is to advocate on behalf of a crime victim in your neighborhood or a child who is bullied in school.

My perceived calling to speak out against the current US government’s authoritarian actions has not yet endangered me, although Donald Trump and his administration have threatened freedom of the press and freedom of expression through intimidation, retribution, regulation, and lawsuits. At this point, my main fear is of social shunning by friends who think I’m helping a political party they dislike to regain power.

Trump’s threats against the independence of the Federal Reserve, which functions as the US central bank, could have implications for the global economy. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times has authored a vivid analysis of the situation and how tolerance of Trump’s long series of misdeeds by members of his party—many of whom are professing Christians—has made it possible. This case should remind us of where we can all end up if we start excusing or even defending injustice because doing so seems to advance our personal interest or ideology.