A day after a woman in Minneapolis was killed by an immigration federal agent, clergy leaders and advocates gathered on the steps of the downtown Los Angeles federal immigration building to honor her and denounce the killing.
Holding printed out photos of Nicole Renee Good, the woman shot in the head by a federal immigration agent, a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Thursday morning for a vigil organized by the Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice and joined by immigrant rights groups. They held signs that read “Justice for Renee.”
“We stand holding the fear and the terror and the sorrow, the deep grief that has transpired needlessly,” said Rev. Francisco Garcia. “Murder at the hands of our tax dollars. State sanctioned. This cannot be, this cannot stand, and we offer our continued witness to stand against these atrocities, against this evil.”
One woman held a sign that read: “End ICE death squads.”
Good, a mother of three who had recently moved to Minneapolis, was driving her car Wednesday morning when she was stopped by federal immigration agents. Videos of the shooting have spread online and appear to show Good, 37, being told to get out of her car, with one agent walking and prying at the door handle. She is seen backing up when another agent stands in front of her car and, as she appears to drive forward, shoots her.
Good’s death has sparked protests that has put the city on edge as protesters have filled the streets, and similar protests have spread across the country.
In Sacramento, police said protesters vandalized a federal building during a march in response to the shooting. TV station KCRA reported that the protest was largely peaceful until a small group of protesters pushed open a security gate and threw rocks at parked cars and the building.
In San Francisco, several hundred people marched through downtown Wednesday, chanting, “Trump must go now, ” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Trump administration has defended the agent’s action, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling it an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers and accused Good of trying to run the agent over.
For months, the administration has contended that federal immigration actions are necessary in carrying out Trump’s mandate to secure the borders. On Thursday, the DHS released statistics that officials say demonstrate that ICE agents have faced an increase in vehicular assaults.
Local leaders have disputed the administration’s narrative that agents were defending themselves as Good attempted to run them down, with Mayor Jacob Frey calling the claim a “garbage narrative.” He called on the agency to withdraw its agents from the city.
For months, clergy leaders have organized vigils and marches in the downtown area after immigration raids began in Los Angeles last year. This time, they felt compelled to speak out because even though Minneapolis is some 1,900 miles away, Good’s death has been felt across the country, Rev. Carlos Rincon said.
“It’s a life that was taken in a horrible way,” Rincon said. “I felt that it was very important to be present, to lament, to pray, but also to denounce. You know what this administration is doing because it comes from the President.”
As an immigrant himself, Rincon said he has attended protests to bear witness. When a large protest broke out in Paramount last year, Rincon was there with a Bible and dressed in clergy wear to help de-escalate the conflict. Instead, he said, he was shot with rubber bullets and tear gassed by agents. Violent confrontations between federal immigration agents and bystanders have continued, and Rincon feared a moment like this was bound to happen.
“She made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our community, and I wanted to honor her,” he said.
For many, the shooting was a sign of escalation by an administration that they said has turned against its own citizens. In California, ICE agents have opened fire while conducting immigration stops. On Aug. 16, masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers surrounded a man driving his truck and smashed his driver’s side window. When he tried to drive away, one agent shot at the truck three times, leaving bullet holes in the side of the car.
In December, an ICE agent shot a man in South L.A. and injured a deputy U.S. marshal hit by a ricochet bullet.
In Chicago, Border Patrol agents shot a woman several times after they accused her of ramming her vehicle into an agent’s car. She was charged with felony assault, but the charges were ultimately dropped.
“We are experiencing fascism by an administration who is at war with its own citizens,” Martha Arevalo, executive director of CARECEN LA, said. “What we are seeing all over the country is unprecedented, and it’s an attack against all of us, undocumented or citizen, it doesn’t matter. We’re all at risk. We should all be worried. We should all be outraged.”
L.A. resident Kelsey Harper said she felt angry and shocked when she learned of Good’s death. She felt compelled to attend the event and support an end to immigration raids and violent confrontations.
“This only ends if enough people are active about it,” Harper said. “The most we can do is show up for each other.”
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