Fox News screenshots of 1/7/26 ICE shooting in MPLS

Media Matters; screenshots via Fox News

A look at how Fox used its coverage of the Minneapolis ICE shooting to push the administration's propaganda

Analysis from The New York Times and The Washington Post counters administration claims parroted by Fox

On January 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an immigration crackdown on the city. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers and said the victim “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”  

State and local officials disputed the accounts, and The New York Times and The Washington Post later reported that videos of the shooting countered Noem’s claims.

But Fox was quick to push dubious claims from the administration, saying that “we have more facts now” while suggesting that what happened was a “ramming incident” and that the woman was using the car as a “deadly weapon.” According to a Media Matters review, Fox News aired clips or read quotes from statements made by Noem in press conferences at least 17 times during its January 7 coverage of the incident. 

As videos of the events started to emerge, some Fox figures briefly tempered their language, saying people should “let the facts come in” and noting that “we don’t know everything that has happened.” In some instances, they noted that there is a “shifting narrative” and that some Trump administration claims might have been “bad information.”

The moderation didn't last long. Fox's evening programming went back to toeing the administration’s line, framing the incident as the woman “blocking” the ICE agents, refusing to comply, and trying “to ram them with her car.”

State and local officials have called the administration's claims that were parroted by Fox a “garbage narrative” by a “propaganda machine.” CNN reported that multiple Department of Homeland Security officials have “privately expressed shock” over the agency’s “immediate response” to the shooting. A New York Times analysis of the incident stated that “the vehicle appears to be turning away” from the officer involved and that he was “standing to the left of the SUV” at the time he opened fire, while the SUV’s wheels are “pointing to the right, away from the agent.” And as The Washington Post notes, “As the vehicle moves forward, video shows, the agent moves out of the way and at nearly the same time fires his first shot. The footage shows that his other two shots were fired from the side of the vehicle.”

This isn't the first time the administration has been caught being dishonest about ICE actions. In October 2025, Noem claimed that “no American citizens have been arrested or detained” by ICE, but according to a ProPublica investigation published the same month, more than 170 U.S. citizens had been detained at raids and protests. In October, The Daily Beast reported that DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin was “caught posting inaccurate information about the violent arrest of an American teen girl.” In November, as the Chicago Sun-Times reported, a federal judge found that Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino -- who led raids in Chicago and its suburbs -- had “lied in a court deposition … about his own use of tear gas in a confrontation with protesters in Little Village.” 

Here's a timeline of Fox’s coverage of the January 7 Minneapolis shooting, which shows that the network largely pushed the administration's propaganda:

  • Fox News initially parroted administration talking points

    • 12:27 p.m. ET: Shortly after news of the shooting broke, correspondent Mike Tobin said there “is some discussion that it was triggered by a ramming incident that we see so often when ICE and Border Patrol agents are conducting their operations.” Tobin additionally noted that “no agents have been harmed.” [Fox News, Outnumbered1/7/26]
    • 12:40 p.m. ET: Fox News read on air a statement from DHS that alleged “an act of domestic terrorism.” Declaring “we have more facts now,” Fox’s Sandra Smith read a statement from DHS that she first attributed to correspondent Tobin, claiming that “one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them. An act of domestic terrorism.” Smith later corrected herself and attributed the statement to ICE. [Fox News, Outnumbered1/7/26]
    • 1:14 p.m. ET: Fox News aired live a press conference in which DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that “it was an act of domestic terrorism.” Noem said: “ICE officers were out in enforcement action. They got stuck in the snow because of the adverse weather that is in Minneapolis. They were attempting to push out their vehicle, and a woman attacked them and those surrounding them and attempted to run them over and ram them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively shot to protect himself and the people around him and my understanding is that she was hit and is deceased.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 1:18 p.m. ET: Parroting Noem’s claims, Fox News anchor John Roberts stated that ICE agents “were trying to push their car out of a snowbank when this person allegedly came at them.” He said: “Kristi Noem said politicians of all stripes should be able to come out very easily and condemn something like that, yet these protesters get it in their mind it’s fine for them, in their own way of thinking, to use a vehicle as a weapon. And, as we heard the DHS secretary say, it looked like they weren't, at that particular time, engaged in active ICE operations. They were trying to push their car out of a snowbank when this person allegedly came at them.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 1:21 p.m. ET:  Fox News anchor Sandra Smith cited Noem while claiming, “A woman chose to ram the agents with her vehicle. The agent shot to protect himself and others with him.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 1:23 p.m. ET: Roberts suggested the victim used her “car as a deadly weapon” in an “act of rage” on officers trying to get their car out of a snowbank. In a question to a guest, Roberts asked, “Is there any other way to describe this than an act of rage? To see ICE agents, federal officials, federal law enforcement trying to get their car out of a snowbank and then using your car as a deadly weapon, just because you are upset about what the ICE officers are doing in your city, can that be characterized — I mean, obviously domestic terrorism is one way, but also an act of rage, unbridled rage?” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
  • As footage emerged, some Fox figures moderated their language and noted discrepancies in the administration’s story

    • 2:02 p.m. ET: Fox News anchor John Roberts called for “expert eyes” to evaluate the footage from the scene and called for “dashcam video” to be considered. Roberts said, “We don't want to cast any judgment on the video until expert eyes have taken a look at it and we see other angles as well. Apparently it is probably dashcam video from the DHS vehicle that would get a different angle of this as well.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 2:16 p.m. ET: Fox News contributor Nicole Parker reminded viewers that “we don’t know everything that has happened” and called for a “full investigation” to be left to “the law enforcement.” Parker cautioned, “When we were initially coming on air and gathering information, there is always that disclaimer and that caveat, you know, it's an ongoing investigation, this has just occurred, this is just what we know right now, but the key is to let the FBI do the full investigation. Because you might be seeing one angle from this side, and the mayor may have seen one video. Let's just leave it to the law enforcement at this point, let them do their jobs.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 2:27 p.m. ET: Fox News guest Julian Epstein said that “we have to let the facts come in here but this situation has really spun out of control,” and anchor Sandra Smith added, “That is why we will let the facts speak for themselves.” [Fox News, America Reports, 1/7/26]
    • 2:45 p.m. ET: Roberts warned about a “shifting narrative” from DHS after video of the incident was circulated and said a statement from Noem about officers trying to move a stuck car was “clearly … not the case.” Roberts said, “There is a bit of a shifting narrative here now that we have seen the video. Secretary of DHS Kristi Noem had said that the officers were trying to push a stuck vehicle out of the snow when this, what she called an act of terrorism, happened. Clearly that is not the case. The vehicle was not — there was no vehicle stuck in the snow, or at least not here.” [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 2:50 p.m. ET: Roberts argued that the videos of the scene “can be interpreted many different ways depending on your perspective.” Roberts added, “The facts of this aren't in yet.”  [Fox News, America Reports1/7/26]
    • 5:13 p.m. ET: Fox News contributor Harold Ford Jr. called Noem’s statement about officers being stuck in the snow “inconsistent” and said she may have gotten “bad information.” Ford commented on Noem’s statements, saying, “I couldn't understand when she said it was an act of domestic terrorism and she said the car was stuck in snow and the officers — I think her characterization, maybe she got bad information, because her characterization seemed inconsistent with what we are seeing here.” [Fox News, The Five1/7/26]
  • Evening programming on Fox News reverted back to parroting administration talking points

    • From 4 p.m. ET through midnight, Fox News aired at least 9 clips of Noem's press conferences from earlier in the day and read at least 4 quotes of her statements. Every hour of programming except Gutfeld!, which is pre-recorded and ran at 10 p.m. ET, aired or quoted Noem's statements.
    • 4:02 p.m. ET: Host Will Cain read President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post that claimed the victim “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE officer, who seems to have shot her in self-defense.” The statement continued, “It is hard to believe he is alive, but [he] is now recovering in the hospital.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show1/7/26]
    • 5:09 p.m. ET: Fox News host Emily Compagno accused the victim of “using the motor vehicle to ram out of the way” ICE agents who had put her under “temporary investigative detention.” She claimed, “We saw that individual behind the wheel of the car using a motor vehicle to ram out of the way, to surge in gas out of the way.”  [Fox News, The Five1/7/26]
    • 6:34 p.m. ET: Anchor Bret Baier summed up the press conference in which Noem accused the victim of committing “an act of domestic terrorism” and threatening an ICE agent without pushback. He stated, “Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Minneapolis talking about the ICE-involved shooting. She said it was an act of domestic terrorism by the driver, who she said threatened the ICE agent who ended up firing his pistol into the car and killing that woman.” [Fox News, Special Report1/7/26]
    • 7:00 p.m. ET: Host Laura Ingraham opened her show by repeating DHS talking points, claiming, “Video appears to show the woman blocking ICE with her vehicle and then driving it into at least one other officer.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle1/7/26]
    • 8:01 p.m. ET: Host Jesse Watters claimed that the victim was preventing officers from leaving and drove her car “straight at an ICE agent.” He stated, “A woman parked her car, preventing the ICE agents from leaving, and was ordered to exit the vehicle multiple times. Officers attempted to open her door after she wouldn’t comply. That is when she backed up her car and gunned it straight at an ICE agent. The agent opened fire on the driver to defend himself.” He later played a grainy video of the shooting, insisting it showed the victim “floors it so hard the tires spin out and the vehicle heads directly toward the agent.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime1/7/26
    • 9:03 p.m. ET: Host Sean Hannity claimed there is clear video of the car moving toward an agent, raised lack of compliance as an aggravating factor in the shooting, and repeated the DHS accusation of domestic terrorism. Hannity: “Just to be clear, there are multiple videos from different angles showing — watch this, the car will back up, then it will accelerate with an agent right in front of that SUV, and the wheel of the large SUV — obviously they’re refusing to comply with federal officials — runs into the agent, accelerates toward the ICE agent a few feet away. And the DHS, they are now calling it tonight an act of domestic terrorism.” [Fox News, Hannity1/7/26]
    • 9:22 p.m. ET: Fox contributor Jonathan Turley said the victim “did not comply with the orders” and “sped up toward the agent.” He stated, “You have an individual who did not comply with the orders to get out of the car and, in fact, sped up toward the agent.” [Fox News, Hannity1/7/26]
    • 11:00 p.m. ET: Anchor Trace Gallagher led with the DHS narrative, alleging the victim “tried to ram them with her car.” Later in the program, Gallagher claimed “you can clearly see the car … going directly at the ICE agent who fired,” then played a video of Noem saying the officer fired “defensive shots.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night1/7/261/7/26]