ICE murder sends shockwaves through the US
Rage has erupted in the US after a yet-to-be-identified Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on a snowy residential street in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Videos circulating online show clearly that Good was shot by the agent multiple times through her car windows as she was attempting to drive past him.
The shooting took place just six blocks from where George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police in 2020—the event that saw the Black Lives Matter movement explode into riots and protests across the US and the world.
Witnesses say Good was acting as a legal observer during an ICE operation in the area. As such, she was one of thousands of ordinary Americans who have participated in grassroots organising against ICE raids in their communities.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shamefully labelled Good a “domestic terrorist” and claimed the ICE agent was acting in self-defence. Donald Trump subsequently made the administration’s line on the murder even more explicit. “The reason these incidents are happening”, he told reporters, “is because the radical left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our law enforcement officers and ICE agents”.
Evidently Trump sees things very differently when it comes to agents of the US state murdering protesters in American cities than he does when similar acts are carried out by countries he regards as enemies. In a post on the right-wing social media platform Truth Social last Friday he said “If Iran kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go”. If only his own citizens might enjoy the same kind of care!
Shortly after the shooting, a crowd amassed and chased ICE from the scene, despite attempts by Minneapolis police to protect them. By the time the sun was setting, up to ten thousand people had gathered for a vigil. An activist who spoke there said “We demand full accountability and justice for Renee. Don’t believe the lies. She was murdered in cold blood today. Don’t be confused by this administration”.
On Tuesday, the day before the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security announced its “largest immigration operation ever” in the Minneapolis area, with 2,000 ICE agents set to be deployed. The operation was a political move by the Trump administration to target Minnesota’s Somali community, which has been subjected to a racist beat-up in recent weeks centring on right-wing conspiracy theories about fraud in Somali-run childcare centres.
The Trump administration has instigated a steep rise in the number of ICE arrests and detentions. As of 14 December, ICE held nearly 70,000 people in detention, a record high. Many of those were detained without trial in violent, armed sweeps of working-class and migrant communities.
Good’s murder, and the ICE-led reign of terror inflicted on migrant communities across the US since Trump took office a year ago, are symptomatic of the priorities of American capitalism in the current moment. The American ruling class, increasingly nervous about maintaining their domination over a world where China is on the rise, have lined up behind Trump and his project to aggressively reassert the strength of American imperialism through brute force.
Abroad, this looks like enthusiastic support for the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s aggressive operations against the Iranian regime and its proxies across the Middle East. It means a foreign policy unconcerned with even the pretence of a “rules-based order” and more inclined to strategies like kidnapping foreign heads of state in the dark of night.
At home, where the Trump administration is increasingly unpopular, opposition must be intimidated or stamped out by force. Palestine activists have been brutalised and targeted for deportation, basic civil liberties have come under attack, and migrants have been scapegoated and locked-up in America’s rapidly expanding network of detention centres.
Democrats have condemned the killing, with former candidate for vice president and current Minnesota governor Tim Walz promising to seek justice. But the Democrats are utterly incapable and unwilling to stand up to Trump beyond censorious words.
At the same time as he was holding a press conference where he told ICE to “get the fuck out”, Minneapolis’ Democrat mayor Jacob Frey’s cops were protecting ICE agents from protestors at the scene of Good’s murder. Walz has put the Minnesota national guard on notice in case further demonstrations get out of hand—the same troops he mobilised to smash up Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Hope for the type of movement that can put Trump and ICE back into their boxes lies squarely with ordinary Americans like Renee Nicole Good and the millions who are outraged by her murder. Tens of thousands have already mobilised in cities like Chicago and New York, with more mass protests planned for the coming days. In the words of a man who rushed to the scene of Good’s murder to confront ICE, “you can’t kill us all”.
