Protestors took to the streets by the thousands in cities across the U.S. on Saturday to demand answers and an immediate investigation into the death of a Minnesota mom.
More than 1,000 events were planned for the weekend in more than 500 cities across all 50 states plus Washington D.C., as part of the ICE Out for Good Weekend of Action, a nationwide series of peaceful protests organized in response to the shocking shooting death of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good at the hands of an ICE officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
“Renee Nicole Good should be alive today,” Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of social movement organization Indivisible, said in a statement.
“Her death has sparked grief and outrage across the country as the latest horrific incident in a mounting toll of enormous harm and horror caused by ICE,” Greenberg continued. “This weekend, people all over are coming together not just to mourn the lives lost to ICE violence, but to confront a pattern of harm that has torn families apart and terrorized our communities. We demand justice for Renee, ICE out of our communities, and action from our elected leaders. Enough is enough.”
Just one day after Good was killed, a border patrol agent shot two people during a traffic stop in Portland, Oregon. Both victims were transported to the hospital, where they are said to be in stable condition and remain in federal custody.
While the protests were sparked by the two shootings, many protestors seized the opportunity to blame President Donald Trump for implementing the extreme anti-immigration crackdown that led to ICE officers being deployed to cities across the country to detain people suspected of being in the country unlawfully.
Los Angeles, one of the first cities targeted by ICE raids, was the site of several major protests in June, leading Trump to deploy the National Guard to the city despite protestations from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
On Saturday, several protestors could be seen bearing signs condemning the president and calling for the “fascist traitor” to be impeached.
One protestor in Boston dressed up as “King Trump,” a reference to the president’s frequent remarks positioning himself as king, rather than the elected leader of a republic. In October, protestors took to the streets in over 2,500 cities as part of the “No Kings” protests in response to Trump’s increasingly authoritarian practices.
“The shootings in Minneapolis and Portland weren’t the beginning of ICE’s cruelty, but they must be the end,” Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer at the ACLU, said in a statement released on Saturday.
“Today, we saw communities across the country gather peacefully to mourn the lives lost at the hands of ICE and to demand accountability. These protests are further proof that public opposition to ICE and this administration’s abuses is growing by the minute. Whether it’s by joining a protest, attending a know your rights training, or demanding that our Congresspeople stop funding these out-of-control agencies, Americans across the country are saying ‘NO. Not on our watch.‘”
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Assistant Homeland Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said of the protests: “The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly—not rioting, assault, and destruction.”
“DHS is taking measures to uphold the rule of law and protect public safety and our officers. ICE officers are facing a nearly 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, and gang members. Law and order will prevail.”
At least 29 people were arrested during Friday night protests in Minneapolis, where Good was killed. City officials claimed that one police officer was injured after a “chunk of ice was thrown at them,” and police ultimately declared the demonstration being held outside the Canopy Hotel, where some ICE officers are staying, to be unlawful.
The Trump administration has continued to insist that the ICE officer who killed Good—identified as 43-year-old veteran Jonathan Ross—was acting lawfully, with the president going so far as to blame Good for her own death and accuse her of running over Ross despite video evidence to the contrary.
In a letter published by Minnesota Public Radio, Good’s widow, Becca Good, wrote, “Kindness radiated out of her.”
“Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.”
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