On Wednesday, January 7, ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) officers in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good as she was driving in her car on East 34 Street and Portland. The officers were sent by the United States federal government to crack down on the estimated number of illegal immigrants in the city. Recently the number of ICE officers in major U.S. cities has been increasing due to debates on how to deal with the border crisis of large numbers of immigrants from Latin America coming into the United States without going through the legal process.
The incident sparked mass outrage in Minneapolis and across America in people who believe the incident was an example of ICE abusing their power. There is video footage of the event, but what happened is still being debated. Neighborhood witnesses believe that the officer took unnecessary force and Good was just driving away. According to PBS News, other witnesses claim she was trying to run him over and was heckling the officer. Kristi Noem, Secretary of the U.S Department of Homeland Security described Good’s actions as an act of “domestic terrorism.” On the same day, ICE was seen outside of a few schools in the area including Roosevelt High School where one student commented on what she witnessed. “On Wednesday, ICE came to our school and it got really violent,” a student at Roosevelt said via an interview with Breakthrough News. Many elementary, middle, and high schools in Minneapolis have canceled school for the week and/or gone remote in order to protect students.
Good’s death devastated southern Minneapolis residents. Marches began instantly as the community is not new to social justice struggles. A few blocks from where Good was shot is the street where George Floyd was killed in May of 2020. Much like how their community inspired marches for the Black Lives Matter movement back then, they are now influencing people in other parts of the country to speak out. A recent example took place in Madison, Wisconsin on January 14. High school students at Madison East and Madison West organized a march to the Wisconsin State Capitol, following a school walk out. Students brought signs that read “Immigrants Built America” and “ICE should be in drinks, not neighborhoods” to protest actions by ICE they deem to be unlawful and cruel.
I asked one student at Madison East who took part in the march about her experience and what it means to her community. “I’ve grown up with such a diverse community and immigrants are such a pillar for keeping things afloat. It is so disheartening to see people treated with blatant violence and hatred. I think the situation with Renee Good resonated with a lot of people because Minneapolis is quite close to home for us here in Madison. Young people are the future and we have more power than we might think. I hope that people really do keep taking initiative like they did today,” Josie M, student at Madison East.
The situation in Minneapolis was a significant moment in the current political climate regarding immigration. Many Mexican-Americans, of all citizenship statuses, are fearful of deportation. A common argument from those in favor of stricter immigration enforcement bring up how ICE is necessary for protecting National Security. Protestors refute this claim as they have expressed they actually feel less safe with ICE present. A lot of people’s concerns about immigrants stem from cases such as the murder of Laken Riley, a 22-year old university student in Georgia. Riley was murdered while she was jogging by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant.
Immigration laws will continue to be debated within the United States along with how they should be carried out. In the meantime, some will continue to protest ICE while they remain stationed in multiple cities.
