DHS was quick to defend fatal ICE shootings in January. Its statements appear to be changing

By Danya Gainor, Annette Choi, CNN

(CNN) — After federal immigration officers fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, the Department of Homeland Security was quick to issue statements defending their agents’ use of lethal force, claiming the victims had been trying to kill law enforcement. The agency’s swift judgement on the incidents prompted calls for impartial investigations from local officials and a flurry of protests. Some of DHS’s narratives were later undermined by video, court rulings and other evidence.

DHS leadership faced structural accountability shakeups in the wake of Good and Pretti’s deaths, including the removal of Secretary Kristi Noem. Her successor, Markwayne Mullin, has publicly favored a low-key style of immigration enforcement that relies more on targeted operations rather than the large-scale and largely unfocused sweeps that were a hallmark of Noem’s tenure.

This month, as two more people in the US have been fatally shot by ICE agents, the agency’s public statements have notably shifted: DHS has taken considerably more time to comment on the shootings, and while some language has remained similar or identical, the agency has softened other details.

CNN has reached out to DHS for comment.

Below, CNN has annotated some of the key details from each of the agency’s first public statements following the fatal shootings of Good, Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero.

CNN’s Michael Williams and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.

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