Summary
CNN investigation into ICE agent Jonathan Ross’s background, including a June 2025 incident in Bloomington, MN where his arm was caught in a car window and he was dragged ~100 yards by a fleeing suspect, and his military/law enforcement career. The Trump administration used the prior incident to justify his use of deadly force against Renée Good; law enforcement experts disagreed.
Key Points
- Ross was dragged ~100 yards in June 2025 during arrest of Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala; suffered cuts requiring 20 stitches (right arm) and 13 stitches (left hand)
- Ross testified in the Muñoz-Guatemala trial in December 2025; the trial provided CNN access to his background and testimony
- Ross’s career: Iraq National Guard 2004–05; Border Patrol near El Paso 2007; joined ICE 2015; works fugitive operations in Twin Cities; selected for Special Response Team (30-hour tryout, expert marksman)
- Ross’s own court testimony: “They do erratic behaviors, they take great risks… they make just extreme movements with their vehicles” — about fleeing suspects
- VP Vance used the prior dragging incident to explain Ross’s reaction to Good’s vehicle: “You think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about someone ramming him?”
- Minneapolis police agencies have policies restricting officers from standing in front of moving vehicles or firing at them
- Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey: “You don’t reach into cars — that’s how you wind up getting dragged down the street. You don’t stand in front or behind a car with the engine running.”
- Expert John Amaya (former ICE deputy chief of staff): ICE general policy is agents should not fire at vehicles unless there is imminent danger; many agents untrained in crowd control
- Ross’s ICE field office had no body camera policy — “ours was not one of them that was rolled out”
Newsletter Angles
- The prior dragging incident is being used as both justification (he had trauma) and context (he knew the danger). But the experts point out the opposite lesson: he knew the danger and still stood in front of a moving car. His training should have taught him not to do that.
- “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” (Ramsey) is the sharpest encapsulation of the use-of-force standard. Ross may have had legal justification — but expert consensus says he had better options.
- The body camera gap is under-reported: the Minneapolis field office had no body camera policy. The only video of the killing is a personal cellphone recording and bystander footage — no official documentation. That’s a systemic accountability failure, not a case-specific one.
Entities Mentioned
- Jonathan Ross — the ICE agent; this source provides the most detailed background on his career and prior incident
- Killing of Renée Good — the fatal shooting this source contextualizes
- Kristi Noem — defended Ross’s actions citing his experience
- Operation Metro Surge — context for the deployment that led to the confrontation
Concepts Mentioned
- Institutional Gaslighting — administration citing Ross’s prior trauma as exculpatory rather than as training failure
- Regulatory Weaponization — Ross’s “Special Response Team” status used to imply elite legitimacy
Quotes
“The fact is every incident has to stand alone. It doesn’t really matter what they went through before. It’s never going to be a justification for something else. They know that.” — Michael Harrigan, retired FBI agent
“Use of deadly force is an absolute last resort when you don’t have other options. He had other options. Don’t stand in front of the freaking car — that’s option number one.” — Charles Ramsey, former Philadelphia Police Commissioner
Notes
This is one of the most substantive investigative pieces on Ross specifically. The Muñoz-Guatemala trial transcript gives CNN access to Ross’s own testimony — his words about how he approaches fleeing suspects are directly germane to the Good killing.