Massive anti-ICE protests have erupted across the United States after the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, including in Los Angeles, Santa Rosa, Minneapolis, Austin, and Philadelphia. The 37-year-old mother of three, who was a prize-winning poet and a hobby guitarist, was gunned down by federal agent Jonathan Ross after she allegedly struck him with her vehicle. Ross has served as a deportation officer with ICE since 2015.
Videos of the protests have surfaced on social media. Take a look:
Chaotic scenes unfolded in Minneapolis amid the protests, with demonstrators harassing federal agents, throwing snowballs at them and some shouting phrases such as “We’re going to f—ing kill you” and “I hope you suffer,” according to Fox News.
Read More | Minneapolis ICE shooting: Trump claims Renee Nicole Good ‘viciously ran over’ officer, blames ‘radical left’
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLauglin told the outlet in response, “We are seeing a coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis.”
Read More | Renee Nicole Good death: Protester burns American flag on Minneapolis street after ICE shooting | Video
In Philadelphia, protesters marched from city hall to the federal detention center on Saturday, January 10. “From Venezuela to Minneapolis, all we’re seeing is a regime that is scrambling, willing to kill its own citizens, willing to kill foreign citizens, to maintain its power,” said Deborah Rose Hinchey, co-chair of the city’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter.
Protests were planned in New York City, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and various other small towns across the country, according to TIME Magazine.
“We cannot wait here in despair. We cannot do nothing. We cannot fall into hopelessness. ” Texas Rep. Greg Casar told protestors at an ICE Out For Good protest in Austin, Texas on Saturday.
Democrats condemn shooting, Trump and DHS blame Renee Nicole Good
Both the Department of Homeland Security and President Donald Trump said that Good was shot and killed in self-defense when she sped her car towards Ross. However, Democrats condemned the shooting, with Nancy Pelosi calling the incident “a betrayal of American values” and Karen Bass calling it “the senseless killing of an innocent and unarmed wife and mother”.
Trump, on the other hand, said on social media after the incident that Good “viciously ran over the ICE Officer,” adding that “the woman driving the car was very disorderly.” He stated that the ICE agent “seems to have shot her in self defense.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Good was “stalking and impeding” federal law enforcement all day, adding that she went on to “weaponize her vehicle” against ICE agents. “The ICE officer, fearing for his life, and the other officers around him… fired defensive shots. He used his training to save his own life and that of his colleagues,” Noem said at a press conference held Wednesday evening, January 7.