Several of these Americans experienced aggressive encounters with Trump’s DHS. Now, they’re telling their stories

By Annette Choi, Yukari Schrickel, Sharif Paget, Whitney Wild, CNN

(CNN) — Three people at the center of aggressive encounters with Department of Homeland Security immigration agents testified Tuesday at a public forum on Capitol Hill about federal immigration enforcement agents’ use of force during immigration raids.

The brothers and attorney representing the family of Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minnesota woman who was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot into her vehicle, also spoke at the event organized by Democratic lawmakers — Connecticut’s Sen. Richard Blumenthal and California’s Rep. Robert Garcia. No DHS officials appeared at Tuesday’s forum.

“Dandelions don’t ask permission to grow. They push through cracks in the sidewalk. Through hard soil, through places where you don’t expect beauty,” said Brent Ganger, Renee Good’s brother, of his sister.

CNN has been closely covering President Donald Trump’s immigration offensive across the country since his inauguration a year ago. Catch up on the key moments of the testimonies, and known details and videos of the DHS encounters that lawmakers, and the nation, heard Tuesday.

Rascon told CNN affiliate KABC in August that masked CBP agents emerged from unmarked cars and surrounded their truck with weapons drawn, then smashed two windows on the truck he was riding in. He said his father-in-law then accelerated away out of fear for their safety. Gunshots can be heard in videos recorded from inside the truck as the truck is driving away. It is not clear in the footage when the two officers were injured.

Rascon testified Tuesday that several weeks after the incident, he and his family were woken up in the middle of the night as agents entered their home.

“The agents pointed the bright lasers attached to their rifles at each of us inside the home. They even pointed their weapon at my fiancé, who was pregnant at the time,” he told lawmakers Tuesday.

He said that once agents presented a warrant, they cooperated and his father-in-law was taken into custody. Eventually, Rascon continued, the charges were dropped. CNN has not confirmed what the charges against Rascon’s father-in-law were related to.

Martinez was accused of “aggressively and erratically” chasing and then ramming into a federal law enforcement vehicle in October. Her defense attorney said it was the agent who sideswiped Martinez. Due to concerns about how the investigation was handled and the government’s “narrative being put forward,” a judge has since dismissed the charges against Martinez.

“I am born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where I learned the values of resilience, community respect, love, and hope. Those lessons have shaped me since childhood and continue to guide me through my adult life,” Martinez told lawmakers on Tuesday. “On October 4, 2025, those values were tested when my life was nearly taken by my own government.”

Good had dropped her 6-year-old son off at school before she was fatally shot inside her car by an ICE officer during an encounter the morning of January 7.

Her death, and the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by two federal officers in Minneapolis several days later, has sparked outrage against federal agents’ continued presence in the Twin Cities and DHS’ aggressive tactics by armed, masked agents — in both immigration enforcement operations and crackdowns on protesters.

Another brother of Good, Luke Ganger, told lawmakers Tuesday he was there to ask for their help.

“The deep distress our family feels because of Ne’s loss … in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief, distress, and desperation for change,” Luke said. “In the last few weeks our family took some consolation thinking that perhaps Ne’s death would bring about change in our country, and it has not.”

Rahman, who says she is autistic and has auditory challenges when many people are talking at once, previously told CNN that she was confused by conflicting commands that were being shouted at her. DHS released a statement last month referring to her as an “agitator” who “ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene.”

On Tuesday, she detailed what happened when detained by DHS on that January day.

“I received no medical screening, phone call, or access to a lawyer. I was denied a communication navigator when my speech began to slur,” she testified to lawmakers. “I pleaded for emergency medical care for over an hour after my vision had become blurry, my heart rate went through the roof, and the pain in my neck and head became unbearable. It was denied. When I became unable to speak, my cellmate pleaded for me.”

The event Tuesday was the second public forum hosted by Democratic lawmakers Blumenthal and Garcia addressing aggressive DHS tactics in American communities.

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This story has been updated with additional developments.