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Following the killings of two human rights defenders – legal observers Renee Good and Alex Pretti – by federal agents in Minneapolis in January 2026, the PBI Canada team posted an article highlighting a Canadian company’s role in equipping the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with armored vehicles purchased through a rushed, sole-source order. Read more below.
PBI Canada’s report is a part of the team’s ongoing research into the arms export and their impacts on the safety and security of human rights defenders, including here in the U.S.
Human Rights Defenders killed by U.S. federal agents
Renee Good was shot to death by an ICE agent on January 7, 2026.
CNN reports: Renee Good “served on the board of her son’s school, which linked to documents encouraging parents to monitor ICE and directing them to training.” Since Trump issued an executive order allowing ICE agents to enter what was previously a sanctuary space, parents and school personnel around the country have formed ICE watch networks that can monitor any ICE presence in their neighborhoods. Renee Good was likely serving as a legal observer when she was shot and killed by an ICE agent, as state and local officials have described her.
Alex Pretti was killed by a U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) officer on January 24, 2026.
On the day Pretti was killed, Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh told a Democracy Now! correspondent: “This morning, Alex was outside with all our neighbors, serving as a neighborhood protector recording ICE when ICE comes into the community. We’ve had neighborhood response groups come together, prepare, organize each other … What we saw on camera was Alex peacefully observing. He had a camera on his hand. He was tackled, he was pummeled, and he was executed.”
Minnesota State Representative Aisha Gomez stated on an MS NOW interview: “How many deaths in the street, extrajudicial executions of US citizens engaging in constitutionally protected speech and activities is enough?”
Both ICE and USBP (which falls under the United States Customs and Border Protection agency) are considered operational and support components of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
ICE armored vehicles made by Ontario company in Michigan
On December 2, 2025, the Canadian Press reported: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earmarked millions of dollars for a bulk order for 20 armored vehicles from Canadian defense manufacturer Roshel… The justification for the sole-source order was published in a partially redacted document on a U.S. federal procurement website on Nov. 26[2025] and the site says a contract was awarded on Nov. 28.”
The Canadian Press subsequently reported that ICE has stated that the purchase falls under Buy American provisions given production of the Roshel Senator emergency response vehicle originates in the United States.
While Roshel is a Canadian company based in Brampton, Ontario, it opened a plant in Shelby Township, Michigan in December 2024. Ontario Premier Doug Ford had previously stated that he thought that it was “fantastic” that ICE had ordered armored vehicles from a company based in Brampton. Global News reports Ford saying: “I’ve been through that plant … We’ll take orders anywhere in the world.”
The contract was awarded to Roshel by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on November 28, 2025 and just a few days later, on December 1, 2025, the DHS announced Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Then on January 6, 2026, the DHS announced this operation would send as many as 2,000 agents to the area. The state’s lawsuit against DHS revealed 3,000 federal agents had actually been sent to the state. In addition to the thousands of newly hired and deployed federal agents in Minneapolis, PBI Colombia’s research reveals that DHS was also acquiring new military grade vehicles and weapons with which to equip federal agents being deployed to U.S. cities.
The Democracy Now! report on the killing of Rene Good on January 7 included a clip from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) video that shows what appears to be a Roshel armored vehicle at an “enforcement operation” in Minneapolis the day before Good was shot to death in her car.
Canadian Civil society speaks out
After the shooting death of Alex Pretti, several Canadian organizations highlighted the use of Roshel armored vehicles by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Instagram post by World Beyond War Canada.
Instagram post by CODEPINK Ontario.
Instagram post by Greenpeace Canada.
We continue to follow this.