We have to be clear about what we’re seeing from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota.
As a combat soldier, I recognize a mission when I see it—not because it’s announced, but because it’s being executed. Within weeks, ICE and Border Patrol operations in Minneapolis resulted in the deaths of two Minnesotans. In more than a year of fighting in Iraq, the 500 soldiers of our battalion did not kill a single person.
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This difference is important.
My unit spent 397 days on the battlefield. We were shot at. We fear for our lives. Snipers shot from the crowd. The roads we were ordered to clear were lined with IEDs. Still, we will not fight back unless strict conditions are met: the shooter must be identified, civilians cannot be in the line of fire, and lethal force must be a last resort.
Why? Because that’s not our mission.
Our mission is to establish bases, secure supply routes and protect civilian lives. We are governed by the Rules of Engagement, the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the War Crimes Act. The violations did not go unnoticed. Soldiers are criminally liable when we break the law. This sense of responsibility is what distinguishes professional soldiers from mercenaries.
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This is not just my experience. This is the standard.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara publicly stated that in 2025, the Minneapolis Police Department seized approximately 900 guns from the streets and arrested hundreds of violent criminals, but did not kill a single person.
Let it stay with you.
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If the Minneapolis Police Department hasn’t killed anyone in over a year of active policing, and my combat troops haven’t killed anyone in over a year of war, then Minnesotans and all Americans have the right to ask why ICE and Border Patrol killed two people in my state in two weeks.
The answer is uncomfortable but inevitable. Either this is their mission or they are operating outside of their responsibilities.
Minnesota is demanding a full legal investigation into the killings of Renee Goode and Alex Pretty, including allegations that life-saving medical care was delayed or denied. Rejecting transparency or refusing to investigate is not a partisan divide. This is a failure of the Constitution.
In 2003, the author was in Nasiriyah, Iraq. “I was deployed with the Army’s 724th Engineer Battalion for preemptive strike/invasion operations in the Iraq War,” she wrote. Contributed by Diana Oestridge
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When armed agents operate outside the confines of the law, they cease to be public servants. They are something else entirely.
Mercenaries are defined not only by the people who pay them, but also by the factors that limit them. Mercenaries follow orders rather than legal, moral or public duty. This is why soldiers and law enforcement officers adhere to the code of conduct so strictly. Without these norms, uniforms become more of a disguise than a safeguard.
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As a veteran, I refuse to accept the venality hidden behind the Confederate emblem on Minnesota soil. This is my home. Minnesota stands for freedom, justice and due process, not secrecy, immunity or reckless violence.
There is no legal responsibility for personnel changes. Silence is not justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Minnesotans are demanding a full, independent investigation under state law into those involved in these deaths. No one—federal or otherwise—is above the laws of the land.
If ICE and Border Patrol cannot operate within the confines of the Constitution, with restraint, transparency, and accountability, then they are not fit to operate in Minnesota or anywhere else.
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Because when force is separated from the constraints of the law, our freedom is already in danger.
Diana Oestreich is a military veteran and founder of The Waging Peace Project. Author of “Moving Peace: The Story of a Soldier Who Put Love First.” as a An author, activist, and soldier-turned-peacemaker, she is a nationally recognized speaker on justice, nonviolence, faith, and how everyday peacemakers challenge and transform our world.
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