District attorney Dan Dow weighs in on ICE shooting. Guess which side he’s on | Opinion

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow has once again exploited a national tragedy to align himself with the far-right MAGA crowd — further alienating his more moderate constituents in the process.

This time, he weighed in on the killing of the Minnesota woman who was shot to death in her car by an ICE agent on Wednesday, igniting protests across a shocked nation.

Dow, never one to refrain from opining on national matters that have nothing to do with his office, posted this cynical and careless take on X, in response to a short video showing one angle of the incident:

“If the story ended the other way around, and the woman had killed the ICE agent, what would the narrative of the far left be?”

In a separate post, he went on at even greater length:

“Sadly the people with an anti-Trump agenda will all jump to conclusion (intentionally) so they can ‘frame’ the narrative for the masses. “Let this tragedy be a loud and sobering reminder to all: DO NOT interfere, obstruct, or delay law enforcement in the performance of their duties. If you do, you put yourself squarely in danger. And NEVER EVER use force against a law enforcement officer, it may be the very last thing you ever do.”

The only ones who are (intentionally) jumping to conclusions here are Dow and other like-minded individuals who immediately swallowed the version of events pushed by President Trump, Vice President Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others who have labeled the victim, Renee Nicole Good, a “domestic terrorist.”

“She behaved horribly, and then she ran him over,” Trump went so far as to say in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday.

Video evidence is not nearly so decisive.

While one grainy video appears to show the ICE officer being struck by Good’s SUV, clearer and closer videos shot from other vantage points show the agent standing to the side of the vehicle — not directly in front of it — when he fired shots into the car.

The videos also show that if the ICE agent was in any danger, he put himself in that position by walking in front of the SUV.

A doctor tried to help — ICE said no

The shooting was a shocking situation, made even worse when an ICE agent prevented a doctor who was on the scene from providing medical aid to the stricken woman. That can be heard clearly on a video analysis posted by the New York Times.

“Can I go check the pulse?” the doctor shouts.

“No! Back up now,” an ICE agent responds.

“I’m a physician.”

“I don’t care.”

Let that sink in: They don’t care.

Neither, apparently, do our president nor his top advisers, who are attempting to bend the facts to suit their purposes — no surprise for an Orwellian gang that celebrates Jan. 6 traitors as patriots and gaslights the American people on a daily basis.

Sadly, our district attorney — SLO County’s top prosecutor — doesn’t appear to care much about getting to the truth, either.

If he did, he would not rush in with a provocative statement that’s clearly intended to incite sympathy for ICE agents and will further inflame an already divided county.

As in past cases, however, it’s difficult to hold Dow accountable. As an elected official, he really only answers to the voters — and he is not up for reelection until 2028.

It’s time to declare SLO County property an ICE-free zone

As we have seen before, Dow simply cannot resist the impulse to broadcast his political and religious views, regardless of whom he offends.

Remember, just weeks ago he reposted social media images linking New York’s Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to the 9/11 attack, triggering outrage not just in San Luis Obispo County, but around the state.

And in this case, it’s equally disappointing that a man of faith like Dow would choose to sound off on a confrontation that left a woman dead.

As both a district attorney and a professed follower of Christ, we would expect better from him.

Thankfully, however, not every elected official in San Luis Obispo County is so keen on promoting the MAGA agenda.

And while they are limited in what they can do to control ICE activities here in SLO County, they are not completely powerless.

For a start, the Sheriff’s Office could refrain from posting any more anti-ICE protest videos like the one filmed inside the jail lobby last month, which captured demonstrators flipping off ICE agents and throwing around the “F” word.

The Sheriff’s Office, which under California law is not supposed to assist ICE, has enough of a relationship that it requested and published the footage on its Instagram page, ostensibly to warn demonstrators that they can be arrested if they interfere with jail business.

“Sheriff’s Office employees should not be subjected to disturbances, obscene behavior, or foul language while carrying out their duties,” the post said.

In other words, be prepared to check your First Amendment rights at the door when you enter the building.

There is, however, a better way to ensure that sheriff’s employees are allowed to do their work in peace, and that the county is following state law regarding ICE.

Do not allow ICE agents inside the jail — or in any other county facility. Period.

Follow the lead of Santa Clara County, where the Board of Supervisors unanimously declared their county an “ICE-free zone,” meaning immigration agents are not allowed to use county-owned or county-controlled property to stage enforcement operations. And yes, that includes parking lots and garages.

Events in Minnesota should open our eyes to how far ICE is willing to go to carry out its mission.

Dow appears to be blind to the risk posed to everyone — including American citizens — by this poorly trained army of federal agents that has been given free rein to intimidate, arrest and even shoot at anyone they believe to be standing in their way. And forget about accountability; when something goes wrong, it’s automatically assumed to be the fault of the victim and the “far left.”

We expect more from the rest of those we elected to keep us safe and secure.

We urge the Board of Supervisors to immediately pass an ordinance denying ICE access to county property.