“She Was an Amazing Human Being”
The fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis has led to outrage and anger across the United States and around the world. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was described by her mother, Donna Ganger, to the Minnesota Star as “extremely compassionate, loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Community activists in Minneapolis have said she was a volunteer in a network of volunteers to monitor and document ICE activity in the area. She was shot and killed as she tried to drive away from ICE officers.
Videos of the incident clearly show that she steered away from the ICE agents, not toward them. Just before possibly panicking, and driving away, in a 47-second video clip, obtained by the Minnesota-based news outlet Alpha News, Good is seen telling Ross, “that’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” in a friendly, casual manner.
Domestic Terrorism, “Bulls**t”
The Trump administration says, despite video evidence to the contrary, that Good tried to run down Ross in an act of “domestic terrorism.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described that account as “bulls**t” based on video footage.
Despite declaring that the FBI would continue the investigation without state assistance, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a continuing investigation of the incident. PBS reported on Jan. 13 that the FBI was investigating Good and failing to investigate the incident.
Mayor Frey called for local leaders to be involved in the investigation. He told federal officials, “If you’ve got nothing to hide from, then don’t hide from it.”
Trump has said that ICE agent Ross is “immune from prosecution,” a false assertion.
The administration recently added 1,000 ICE agents to Minnesota for a total of 3,000 agents now deployed, amplifying tensions. “Operation Metro Surge” continues with immigration arrests reported around the state following the increase of federal agents.
ICE is now the least popular of nine federal agencies surveyed and, according to a new YouGov survey that started two days after Good’s killing, just 40% of Americans have a favorable view of the agency, whereas 51% view it unfavorably. Intensity matters here: Only a quarter feel “very favorable” toward ICE, whereas 40% feel “very unfavorably” about it.
A History of Killing and No Prosecutions
This is not the first killing by ICE and Border Protection. According to a data analysis by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to investigating and reporting gun violence, and news reports, federal immigration officials (including ICE and Customs and Border Protection) have been involved in at least 16 shooting incidents since the beginning of the second Trump term (starting January 2025), which have resulted in four deaths and at least seven injuries.
Several other specific incidents involving ICE agents in the last year include an off-duty ICE agent shooting and killing a Black man, Keith Porter, a father of two, in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, 2025; a shooting in a Chicago suburb in September 2025 that killed Silverio Villegas González; and a 31-year-old Mexican citizen in Grande City, Texas, killed while being apprehended.
The New York Times reports that in the last four months federal officers have fired on at least nine people while they were in their vehicles. The numbers of shooting incidents cited above might be an undercount, as not all use-of-force incidents are publicly reported by the agency.
ICE and Border Patrol agents are rarely, if ever, prosecuted for killing and harming people. A 2020 report from the Southern Borders Community noted that no on-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have ever successfully been convicted of a killing in its 100-year history.
The Trace reports that “from 2015 to 2021 ICE agents were responsible for 59 shootings, of which 23 were fatal. There’s no evidence any ICE agent was indicted.”
Good on Jan. 8. Photo by Peter Maiden
And ICE Hasn’t Stopped
After the shooting of Renee Good, another protester was shot and injured in Minneapolis on Jan. 14 . In addition, two protesters were shot and injured by ICE in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 8. At press time, in Minneapolis, on Jan. 24, ICE agents shot 37- year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti 10 times as he lay on the ground, killing him instantly.
ICE is also using prohibited, by ICE policy, violent tactics such as choke holds, placing knees on protesters/arrestees’ heads and brutal body slams. Pro Publica has documented at least 40 cases of the use of these sometimes deadly tactics by ICE agents across the United States.
In response to ICE violence, on Jan. 16, U.S. Federal District Judge Katherine Menendez issued an order limiting the crowd control tactics that can be used by ICE agents toward “peaceful and unobstructive” protesters in Minneapolis.
National and Local Protests Erupt
Across the United States and around the world, protests dubbed ICE Out for Good erupted and continue in every major city and in towns throughout the nation. “This is an astounding moment where people are reacting to an atrocity,” said Lisa Gilbert of Public Citizen.
Gilbert told PBS that “we’re holding 1,000-plus events, peaceful, lawful, vigils around the country. It was organized in only 48 hours, and the massive numbers demonstrate the outrage people have.”
Locally, there were several events, including a vigil on Jan. 8 at the ICE headquarters in Fresno organized by Peace Fresno, Raza Against War, Central Valley Community Action and the Party for Socialism and Liberation and a large demonstration in north Fresno on Jan. 11.
Gloria La Riva of the Peace and Freedom Party addressed the solemn vigil. “ICE left L.A., Portland and Chicago not because they had a change of heart. It was because the people made it clear that they will fight for justice.
“What are the ICE agents doing in Minneapolis armed with semiautomatic weapons? They are declaring war on thousands of Somali immigrants. They are workers, and they are our brothers and sisters.
“Renee Nicole Good was doing the work of a good-hearted person. She was the mother of three kids. Do you really think she was trying to run an ICE agent down?”
