The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hit back at Billie Eilish Friday, saying the pop singer was spreading “garbage rhetoric” with Instagram reposts that labeled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “federally funded terrorist group” that has “done nothing to make our streets safer.”
The reposts followed an immigration agent’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis Wednesday in what the DHS has said was an act of self defense when the woman allegedly accelerated toward him with her SUV while another agent was ordering her to step out of the vehicle.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded by firing off a statement to the music trade publication Billboard magazine late Friday.
“Clearly, Billie Eilish has not seen the newly released footage, which corroborates what DHS has stated all along — that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement,” it read.
She shared a video she posted on X of the January 7 shooting and went on to defend the agent saying the agent had been “in fear of his own life [and] the lives of his fellow officers and acted in self-defense.”
Both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, as well as other Republicans have also defended the agent’s action, while also saying it’s a tragedy brought on by activists trying to interfere with illegal immigration enforcement in keeping with federal law.
“The American people can watch this video with their own eyes and ears and judge for themselves,” she told the music trade publication.
Billboard reported that Eilish also reshared a call to “abolish ICE,” while a third post encouraged people to contact their representatives in Congress to demand that Ross be arrested and charged for killing Good.
RELATED: JD Vance Rebukes Media for Saying ICE Agent Defending Himself Is Guilty of Murder
The initial Eilish repost also stated that ICE was “domestic terrorists tearing apart families. Terrorizing citizens. And now murdering innocent people.”
“ICE does not separate families,” McLaughlin responded. “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”
She added, “This is consistent with past administrations’ immigration enforcement. It’s garbage rhetoric from the likes of Billie Eilish that is leading to a 1,300% increase in assaults and 3,200% increase in vehicle rammings against our brave law enforcement.”
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