As more videos emerge of Wednesday morning’s fatal shooting by an ICE agent of a 37-year-old queer mother of three, and protests ramp up, here are seven key policy changes to tangibly protect the public from the excesses of Renee Nicole Good‘s killing.
The Minneapolis resident with ties to Iowa, Missouri and Colorado was killed by an ICE agent who shot her while she was behind the wheel of her SUV, as two other agents descended on her car and tried to open her driver’s side door after she blocked ICE vehicles with her SUV for about three minutes.
Two more people are hospitalized after another car-related ICE agent shooting, in Portland, Ore. Thursday. Overall, Good is the fourth person to be killed by ICE agents in the last several months.
A scene at Foley Square in Manhattan Wednesday evening where thousands gathered to protest an ICE agent’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman. (photo by swinxy.me)
These urgent and overdue policy needs focus on safety, accountability, and preventing this tragedy from happening again:
Holding lying government officials accountable, and correcting the record
Our president and vice president, immigration head Kristi Noem, and an entire public information department for ICE gave initial false accounts of Good’s killing, we learned after numerous videos of the shooting emerged. Misleading or inaccurate statements initially presented as fact by President Donald Trump and Noem include claiming that:
- several agents were injured
- one agent was severely injured;Â
- and Good attempted to run over several agents with her vehicle
Video of Good’s killing shows, instead, that:
- only one agent was brushed by Good’s vehicle
- he walked around the scene briskly with little sign of injury after the incident;
- and Good may have been attempting to comply with agents’ orders to leave.Â
What censure, admonishments, or public record correction can be required of Cabinet-level officials, and the President, who are proven to have lied or provided inaccurate information to the public in their official capacities?
Better training and anger management for ICE agents
Video of the incident displays three key signs of inadequate training of officers:
- excessive and possibly illegal use of force, including the killing agent positioning himself in front of Good’s vehicle and, contrary to training, firing directly at the driver of a moving vehicle while his fellow officrs and other bystanders were dangerously nearby
- excessive aggression
- and undue phone use by the officer who fired the fatal shots
These are factors that have long been central to guarding against police brutality by other agencies.
What can be done to urgently increase and improve ICE agent training in the areas of restrained use of force, anger management or impulse control training, and improper use of cellphones while on duty?
Above. see numerous angles of Renee Nicole Good’s shooting, courtesy of the New York Post.
Coordinated rather than chaotic, conflicting ICE actions that confuse citizenry and increase danger
Video of moments before Good’s killing show some ICE agents driving past her, one agent walking up to her vehicle slowly, another agent walking briskly to her vehicle to aggressively grab her door handle and reach inside the car, and a third agent (the one who would eventually kill her) circling around her vehicle recording with a phone.
One eyewitness said Good was being told by some agents to leave, while other agents simultaneously asked her to get out of her car.
What policy changes are urgently needed to require clearer, more careful actions by ICE that prioritize public safety and do not contribute to dangerous chaos?
Body cameras needed on all ICE agents
Congress passed legislation in February to require body cameras on ICE agents, and Noem announced in August they’d be worn by all ICE agents. Yet thus far, only five cities have been equipped.
What policy, funding or organizational changes are needed to ensure all ICE agents are equipped with functioning body cams as quickly as possible?
Adequate emergency medical service and response in the field
Video of the moments after the incident show a doctor asking for the opportunity to check whether Good had a pulse, but blocked by ICE agents. One eyewitness said Goode was eventually carried by her limbs away from the scene, rather than placed on a stretcher, because ambulances could not reach the scene through the myriad of ICE vehicles.
What basic medical professionals need to accompany ICE agents in the field to ensure those they injure – and ICE agents themselves – have speedy access to emergency medical care?
Re-emphasize basics of safe, responsible protesting
This is a tough one, but must be mentioned if our goal is to avoid future painful moments like this one and to be effective in our protests — especially as protests are likely to proliferate worldwide
Video shows Good’s SUV was parked in the middle of a one-way street, blocking ICE vehicles, while her partner was outside the car videotaping with her phone. Another eyewitness described Good as the leader of a car caravan aiming to block ICE vehicles.
For almost a minute before her killing, Good and her wife are engaged in banter with ICE agents that was partly non-provocative, and partly intentionally contentious and provocative, such as insults and encouragements to “come at us.”
Just before Good’s killing, as ICE agents are trying to open her car door and remove Good from her SUV, her wife shouts to her “Drive, baby, drive.”
When, if ever, is it needed or safe for protesters to become vigilantes and restrict or restrain officers? IS there a role in protest for taunting and verbal provocation of law enforcement? When, if ever, is it appropriate to try and elude officers at protests by fleeing the scene? What guidelines of protest can be re-emphasized so that protesters themselves can take steps to lessen their chances of being in dangerous and even life-threatening situations?
Guidelines to consider might include abandoning the concept of vehicles as activist tools, committing as a protester to no taunts and teasing, and committing as a protester to non-resistance to law enforcement rather than leaving the scene when approached.
These tough lessons of activism and law enforcement interaction are what People of Color have had to focus on for decades in the face of persistent police brutality. Overlooking their importance in this situation would be allowing privilege to seep into the discussion.
Above. Vice President J.D. Vance repeats President Trump’s accusations Wednesday that Renee Nicole Good, killed by an ICE agent while blocking ICE vehicles in her car Wednesday, threatened the life of the officer who killed her.
Less performative actions, less focus on recording ourselves and each other
Sure, phone video helped prove Trump administration officials were lying to us originally about Good’s killing. It also demonstrated the victim’s car veered (intentionally or not) directly toward an ICE agent, and needless taunting of ICE agents.
Phones also played a role in creating this dangerous scenario, in which both ICE agent Jonathan Ross and Good’s partner (who had ridden there with Good) were equally if not more focused on their phones and getting video of each other, than on Good herself. At one point, the two pass within inches of each other, each steering their phones directly at the other while Good’s encounter with two other ICE agents escalates on the other side of the car.
What can we do to stop the obsession with creating or getting the video, that has become so central to activism today? What can we do to ensure the focus on surveilling each other does not detract from the focus on the protest?
Renee Nicole Good is the fourth person to be killed by an ICE agent’s gunfire in the last five months this year. Those killings include the New Year’s Eve kllling of Keith Porter in Los Angeles by an off-duty ICE officer, the Dec. 17 killing of a Mexican resident whose name has not yet been released; and the Sept. 12 shooting of Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez in Chicago, when he attempted to drive way from a targeted traffic stop ICE agents were conducting of him.
The ongoing violence calls for urgent policy changes. Let’s keep the focus where it needs to be: on needed policy changes that focus on safety, rebuilding public trust and safeguarding civil rights.
To those focused on protesting, thank you for your work, your bravery, and for speaking up. To those seeking an additional or different way to make a difference, such as artwork, personal essays, or analysis that promotes better policies and depolarization, consider submitting your artwork or writings here. Email reachus@main-stream.org, or call/text 309-306-1372,
