In wake of Minnesota shooting, questions persist about violent ICE agents in Ohio

Thousands took to the streets to protest a masked federal officer’s point-blank shooting Wednesday of a 37-year-old woman in Minnesota. As they did, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials didn’t address allegations of persistent violence by officers in Ohio.

One, a supervisor, has been charged after dozens of police calls alleging domestic violence against his much younger, noncitizen partner. Another was convicted of forcing a vulnerable immigrant to have sex with him.

ICE’s regional media office was asked by the Ohio Capital Journal more than two weeks ago whether it knew the supervisor’s history, but after asking for more time to respond, has not yet responded.

In Minneapolis, an unidentified ICE agent shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in the face Wednesday morning while she was behind the wheel of her SUV. Just after, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and later President Donald Trump claimed that Good was trying to run over the masked agent. 

But a New York Times analysis contradicted that claim. It displayed video evidence showing that Good was steering her vehicle away from the agent when he shot through her windshield mere feet away.

The analysis also showed agents blocking a man who said he was a doctor from assisting Good before medical help arrived. And it showed the shooter and other masked agents speeding away.

There are long-standing questions about the adequacy of the training ICE agents receive. And when Trump this year ramped up hiring to support his mass-deportation plans, people with criminal records and other disqualifications were hired without being adequately vetted.

Even so, Trump eased training and recruitment standards, and offered bonuses of up to $50,000, to attract more people. That raises fears among critics that things will get worse at an agency they say has long lacked adequate accountability and oversight.

In Ohio, immigrant advocates have been asking how ICE didn’t know about chronic, extreme allegations of domestic violence against Samuel Saxon, assistant field office director of the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Cincinnati Suboffice.

In December, Saxon, 47, was arraigned on charges of attacking the woman he lived with and putting her in a chokehold after a neighbor shot video of part of the incident, prosecutors said.

Over the course of a year, police had been called to the residence about 23 times. In 2018, Saxon’s partner suffered a broken nose, and in April, she suffered a broken pelvis, WXIX reported prosecutors as saying.

Saxon began his relationship with the woman, a noncitizen, when she was 18 and he was in his 40’s, the station reported.

Saxon is also charged in federal court with lying to a federal investigator. 

In an interview with a Homeland Security special agent and a Cincinnati police officer, Saxon denied being in physical contact with his partner when the alleged attack took place. Saxon laughed as he said that — and at other junctures in the interview, according to a partial transcript that was included in his criminal complaint.

In one, he laughed as he referred to a completely separate incident.

“Do you want to hear the accusation that we got today?” the Cincinnati police officer asked.

“That’s fine. I mean, I imagine — now that you’re telling me all this, it’s not about the dude at the Mexican place, so [laughs],” Saxon said, according to the transcript.

Saxon’s federal public defender didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

ICE’s Midwest media office was asked on Dec. 26 whether it knew about Saxon’s history. On Dec. 29, it asked for more time to respond. As of Thursday, it still hadn’t.

Lynn Tramonte, founder of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, said it’s impossible that ICE officials didn’t know about allegations against Saxon, a supervisor in one of the agency’s field offices.

In an email referring to published allegations against Saxon, she said:

“There’s no way ICE was unaware of Saxon’s history of violence. His victim had broken bones that required surgery… The police came to his home 23 times in less than a year and a half. He had a DUI. 

“One of his bosses even called the police to do a welfare check when he didn’t show up for work, and they found him holding a knife. His supervisor admitted he was a ‘loose cannon.’ This went on for years, ICE knew about it, and they kept promoting Saxon instead of firing him. That’s not how a law enforcement agency should operate.”

Saxon’s arrest comes after a federal jury in 2024 convicted Andrew Golobic, an ICE deportation officer in Cincinnati, of extorting sex from a noncitizen woman over whom he had power. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison last March.

In a press release announcing his conviction, the U.S. Justice Department said that Golobic exploited the woman even though he had a special responsibility to protect people who had already been victimized.

“In his role, Golobic supervised immigrants with vulnerable backgrounds including those fleeing violence, exploitation, and sexual assault,” it said.

“Golobic knew he had power over women under his supervision. Golobic had discretion over the degree of freedom and movement afforded to participants under his supervision.”

In justifying mass detentions and deportations, Trump and his administration have claimed they’re getting rid of violent criminals. But a November analysis by the Cato Institute found that just 5% of detainees had been convicted of violent crimes, while 73% have no convictions at all.

Tramonte said Trump and his subordinates should look closer to home if they want to fight violent crime.

“I find it ironic that we’re constantly hearing DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin make up lies about immigrants, calling every single one a criminal, yet we haven’t heard a word from DHS about the dangerous crimes that ICE agents are committing,” she said. 

Of Saxon, she added, “If he was an immigrant, DHS would have posted his mugshot all over the media by now. Instead, they are avoiding questions from the media because he’s one of their own, and there’s no excuse for keeping him in his position for so long. There’s something very rotten at the Cincinnati ICE office, and hiding from the truth doesn’t change it.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal. View the original article.