L.A. clergy, protesters denounce ICE fatal shooting in Minneapolis
A day after a Minneapolis woman was killed by a federal immigration agent, clergy leaders and advocates gathered on the steps of the federal immigration building in downtown Los Angeles to pay their respects and denounce the killing.
Holding printed photos of Renée Nicole Good, the woman shot in the head by a federal immigration agent, a crowd of about 100 people gathered Thursday morning for a vigil organized by clergy and laity united for economic justice and joined by immigrant rights groups. They held signs reading “Justice for Renee.”
“We bear the fear, the terror and the grief, the deep sorrow that has happened unnecessarily,” said the Rev. Francisco Garcia. “Murder at the hands of our taxpayer dollars. State approved. This cannot happen, this cannot continue, and we offer our continued testimony to oppose these atrocities, this evil.”
A woman protests the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
A 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 spread online and appear to show Good, 37, being asked to get out of his car, with an officer walking over and searching the door handle. She is seen backing up when another officer stands in front of her car and, as she appears to move forward, shoots her.
Good’s death sparked protests that took to the streets of Minneapolis, sending the city into uproar. Similar protests have spread across the country.
In Sacramento, police said protesters vandalized a federal building during a march in response to the shooting. KCRA television station reported that the protest was largely peaceful until a small group of demonstrators pushed a security barrier and threw stones at parked cars and the building.
Ampara Rincon, holding a photo of Good, watches as protesters lay flowers in Good’s memory.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
In San Francisco, several hundred people marched through downtown Wednesday, chanting “Trump must go now,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Trump administration defended the agent’s action, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accusing Good of trying to run over the agent and calling it an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE agents.
For months, the administration has argued that federal immigration actions are necessary to carry out Trump’s mandate to secure the borders. On Thursday, DHS released statistics that officials say demonstrate that ICE agents have faced an increase in traffic assaults.
Local leaders disputed the administration’s narrative that the officers were defending themselves while Good tried to overthrow them, with Mayor Jacob Frey calling the claim a “trash narrative.” He called on the agency to remove its agents from the city.
For months, clergy leaders have held vigils and marches in downtown Los Angeles to call for an end to immigration raids. This time, they felt compelled to speak out because even though Minneapolis is about 3,000 miles away, Good’s death was felt across the country, said the Rev. Carlos Rincon.
“This is a life that was taken in a horrible way,” Rincon said. “I felt it was very important to be present, to lament, to pray, but also to denounce. You know what this administration is doing because it’s coming from the president.”
As an immigrant himself, Rincon said he has attended protests to witness this. When a large protest broke out at Paramount last year, Rincon was there with a Bible and dressed in clergy vestments to help defuse the conflict. Instead, he said, officers shot him with rubber bullets and tear gas. Violent clashes between federal immigration agents and bystanders continued, and Rincon feared a moment like this would come.
“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 say has turned against its own citizens. In California, ICE agents opened fire while conducting immigration checks. On August 16, masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents surrounded a man who was driving his truck and smashed the driver’s side window. As he tried to flee, an officer shot the truck three times, leaving bullet holes in the side of the car.
A protester holds a photo of Good in front of a sign calling for the abolition of ICE.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
In December, an ICE agent shot and killed a man in South Los Angeles and injured a deputy U.S. marshal who was hit by a ricochet bullet.
In Chicago, Border Patrol agents shot a woman multiple times after accusing her of ramming her vehicle into an agent’s car. She was charged with assault, but the charges were eventually dropped.
“We are experiencing the fascism of an administration that is at war with its own citizens,” said Martha Arevalo, executive director of CARECEN LA. “What we’re seeing across the country is unprecedented, and it’s an attack on all of us, undocumented immigrants or citizens, it doesn’t matter. We’re all in danger. We should all be concerned. We should all be outraged.”
Los Angeles 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 clashes.
“This will only end if enough people step up,” Harper said. “The best we can do is show up for each other.”
