The Twin Cities metropolitan area has been under siege by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents since early January, resulting in the ongoing harassment and arrest of hundreds of local residents, and the January 7 killing of Renée Nicole Macklin Good. Good, a thirty-seven-year-old mother of three, lived in the Central neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and had been monitoring ICE’s actions in her community when she was gunned down by ICE agent Jonathan Ross as she tried to drive her car away.
Good’s death has caused a firestorm of anguish and anger across Minneapolis. Thousands of people gathered together for a vigil that night on the street where she was killed. News helicopters hovered overhead and speakers at the rally invoked the names of other people killed by police in recent years, including George Floyd, Dolal Idd, and Jamar Clark. By morning, the street where Good was shot to death had been roped off by protestors grieving her death. The site quickly turned into an autonomous zone with barricades at either end of the block where Good died, barring vehicles from entering. (Minneapolis officials removed the barricades on January 9, citing safety concerns.)
A large protest then wound through the heart of Minneapolis on January 10, with thousands of people invoking Good’s name and her likeness through slogans and handmade posters. A coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union and Indivisible organized more than 1,000 peaceful protests events across the country in the “ICE Out for Good Weekend of Action.” Public outcry has mounted since the release of additional audio from the video of the shooting that Ross apparently captured on his cellphone. In it, a man can be heard saying “fucking bitch” after the gun is fired into Good’s vehicle, indicating gender-based violence to some.
In the hours immediately following Good’s death, ICE agents continued their terror campaign in the very neighborhood where she had lived and was killed. Green Central Dual Immersion Elementary School, where students learn in both English and Spanish, is just a few blocks away from where Good died. Both before and after she was shot at point blank range by Ross, ICE agents were combing through the neighborhood, kicking in doors, and attempting to set up staging areas for their raids, as I observed and heard about through group chats..
Soon, local residents began patrolling the blocks around the school to help keep students, staff, and parents safe from immigration enforcement. This type of mobilization happens through secure networks where residents share tips and track ICE’s movements throughout the Twin Cities, in an effort to protect the area’s vulnerable communities. As ICE agents move through city streets in unmarked SUVs, often with out-of-state license plates, citizens are following, observing, and otherwise acting as a line of defense against what looks and feels like a militarized occupation.
The New York Post claimed that Good was a “Minneapolis ‘ICE Watch’ ‘warrior’ who trained to resist feds.” I live not far from where Good was killed; neighbors have been organizing among themselves to monitor and interfere with ICE’s activities, particularly to protect the restaurants, businesses, and blocks where undocumented people are most likely to be found and targeted. But if there is one highly organized leftwing group pulling this together, I have yet to see any evidence of it.
Chad Davis (CC BY 4.0)
A flyer in South Minneapolis honoring Renee Good, January 7, 2025.
ICE agents are working in tandem with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) under the leadership of Gregory Bovino, who has become known for orchestrating dramatic public displays of CBP force. Hours after Good’s killing, Bovino was spotted at Minneapolis’s Roosevelt High School. There, agents tackled and detained a school staffer while students and community members sheltered in place at a nearby public library. The Minneapolis Public Schools then canceled classes throughout the entire district for the remainder of the week due to the violence and fear spreading through the city.
Bovino and CBP made headlines in September after he and other agents rappelled down a wall and entered an apartment building in Chicago, Illinois, a Black Hawk helicopter hovering above. Dozens of migrants were detained during the raid. Claims by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that the building was occupied by Tren de Aragua gang members were found to be false. But Bovino, it seems, has not curtailed his penchant for high-profile stunts. On January 8, he reportedly participated in a photo-op outside of a Minneapolis daycare center that closed after rightwing YouTube influencer Nick Shirley posted a video alleging widespread fraud by Somali employees.
Meanwhile, questions remain as to whether or not Ross, who shot Good in the head, will be arrested. Members of the Trump Administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, immediately closed ranks around Ross, defending his actions and declaring Good a “domestic terrorist.” When it became clear that Ross was not going to be immediately arrested, local activists held a press conference in Minneapolis, demanding that Minnesota law enforcement officials charge Ross with murder.
Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong led the press conference, declaring, “We’re here today because Renee Good should be alive.” Elizer Darris of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which provides cash bail assistance and works on prison reform efforts, recounted how ICE agents refused to allow a physician at the scene to render any aid to Good. They let her die, he insisted, and he called on local officials to “stand up and do something.”
Shortly before the press conference took place, the FBI announced that it would take charge of investigating Good’s death, without allowing the involvement of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension—a statewide investigative body that often assists local law enforcement agencies when a high-profile violent crime occurs. Observers such as former Border Patrol agent Jenn Budd have noted that this all but guarantees that Ross will not face prosecution for his role in killing Good.
Darris, however, made it clear at the press conference that he and others expect someone with authority, such as Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarity, to either bring charges against Ross or “tell us they are abandoning us” to a federal government operating with no checks and balances.
As the press conference wrapped up, ICE observer chat groups exploded with notices that Bovino was seen on foot just a few blocks away. It turned out to be a false alarm, and yet another sign that ICE’s occupation of the Twin Cities has everyone on edge.