ICE is Deadly

by Lauren Pope

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Yesterday, Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent who shot her three times at point blank range.

Many videos released yesterday show her turning away from the agent. I am going to temporarily set aside the question of whether this was a justified use of force, because focusing on that question obscures a larger and more important one.

Why was ICE in Minneapolis at all?

This was not a neutral or routine law enforcement interaction. Paramilitary federal agents have been deployed into mostly Democratic-led cities across the country for one reason and one reason only, to intimidate and terrorize immigrant communities and communities of color.

These agents arrive masked, in unmarked SUVs, and seize people off the street. Without clear insignia or identification, they demand immediate compliance. The terror is not incidental. It’s the point.

Contrast this with a typical traffic stop. A local police officer approaches from a marked vehicle, wearing a uniform with a visible name and badge, his face uncovered. Whatever your opinion of policing, the legitimacy of the interaction is made visually and procedurally clear.

An ICE detention looks very different. A man in a neck gaiter and a generic “POLICE” vest jumps out of an out-of-state SUV, points a gun at you, and orders you into the vehicle. In that moment, your immigration status is irrelevant. ICE has detained U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents alike. Despite acting more like cartel kidnappers than accountable law enforcement, these agents wield the full authority of the federal government, and we are expected to treat them as such.

This is where legal observers come in.

These volunteers document ICE activity, record interactions, and gather critical information for families whose loved ones are taken. Their presence can sometimes prevent brutality, though it is an imperfect system. Alerts go out when suspicious vehicles are spotted. Anyone available responds to verify activity and warn others if ICE is operating in the area.

In Renee Good’s case, ICE agents became stuck in the snow. Additional vehicles arrived to assist them, which legal observers interpreted as the beginning of a raid. An alert went out. People responded, including Renee.

She had just dropped her six-year-old child off at school and was already nearby. She came to bear witness to the cruelty that has become routine in these operations. What she encountered instead was chaos and incompetence, heavily armed men struggling, almost absurdly, to free an oversized SUV from a snowdrift.

They had no meaningful reason to be there. They were there because Donald Trump made an offhand, racist remark about Somali immigrants, and with the same capriciousness that has defined this entire ICE surge, agents were sent into a community where they were unwanted and unwelcome.

Is this what they imagined when they signed up to “deport the worst of the worst”? Did they think they would be pulling preschool teachers out of classrooms while neighbors stood by shouting “Shame”? Do they believe they are making our streets safer or our communities stronger?

Or were they simply angry, humiliated men who shot and killed a mother of three because they were frustrated and embarrassed that they could not get their car out of the snow?

All of the video evidence and eyewitness testimony available suggest that Renee was simply attempting to get away from the chaotic situation that ICE created. She was told to move out of the way by one agent, and then, as she attempted to do so, another came up and grabbed her door handle. These were not the actions of a trained and responsible police force, they were the actions of poorly-coordinated, poorly-trained, unaccountable vigilantes who were more concerned with feeling in control of the situation than with the safety of any individual civilians or the community as a whole. 

ICE is not being deployed to help us, to make our cities safer. It is being deployed to make the power of the federal government felt. ICE agents are not acting as law enforcement, but as modern day privateers.

For the safety of our communities, ICE must be removed from our cities. And may we never forget Renee Good’s bravery and witness.