Coast to coast protests condemn ICE murderers

People came out in massive numbers in numerous cities with little advance notice to protest the killing by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of ICE observer Renee Good by ICE agents on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. 

Several thousand people converged on Philadelphia City Hall Jan. 8 to express their unified anger at the government’s murder of Good, an activist, poet and mother of three children. This was the latest killing by ICE — the 32nd in the last year. The evening rally was organized by NO ICE Philly, Juntos, Asian Americans United and Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition.

On the evening of Good’s killing the Atlanta chapter of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) held a candlelight vigil in front of the Atlanta ICE building where dozens of people held candles in her honor. That was followed by a protest with loud chanting and honking on Jan. 8 at the same location, organized by FRSO and others. At its conclusion, many of the attendees then went to the nearby Georgia State Capitol building where the Party for Socialism and Liberation held a rally and march. The large crowd took the streets of Atlanta and ended back at the ICE facility.

On Jan 9, vigils were organized at three venues in the Atlanta area to honor Good. This writer attended one in a packed venue, Neighborhood Church, in an east side area of Atlanta, where testimony was provided by a trans immigrant about her past experiences in a Georgia detention center. Also testifying was the spouse of 46-year-old Rodney Taylor, a double amputee who is currently under threat of being deported to Liberia, a country he left when he was six years old for medical care in the U.S. While the program was happening, an artist was painting a beautiful portrait of Renee Good just behind the speakers.

On Sunday, Jan. 11, there was a large gathering on the 17th St. Bridge in Atlanta called by several organizations, including the ANSWER coalition, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Community Movement Builders and others, to protest both the U.S. attacks on Venezuela — including the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores — and the killing of Good. The crowd of hundreds was buffeted by wind gusts of 40 miles an hour and frigid temperatures, but persevered to hold a two-hour rally with vigorous chanting and rousing speeches by a number of community organizations.

In Gwinnett, a suburb of Atlanta, hundreds of people responded to a call by Indivisible to gather along a major street with signs protesting the murder of Renee Good and demanding ICE out of our cities and neighborhoods. Indivisible also held two similar protests in Cobb County on Jan. 11.

Across the Atlanta metropolitan area people have gathered on street corners, in parks, in churches and community centers and in front of ICE offices and government buildings to protest the murder of the Minneapolis mother of three.

Atlanta, while not the site of a massive influx of armed and masked ICE officers, nevertheless has witnessed the seizure and arrest of supposedly undocumented immigrants in our neighborhoods and streets.

Hundreds of activists came out in downtown Cleveland. A spirited rally outside the federal building featured speakers from endorsing organizations, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Cleveland, Palestinian Youth Movement, InterReligious Task Force on Central America, Cleveland United Against War, Workers World Party, Party for Socialism and Liberation-Cleveland, Cleveland Peace Action, Cleveland Sudan Network, Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Northeast Ohio Worker Center, Young Latino Network and Cleveland Jobs With Justice. After the rally demonstrators held a militant march. 

This was one of over half a dozen protests in Northeast Ohio protesting Good’s murder..

For three days in a row, Houston activists took to the streets to condemn the violence and murders by ICE and demand its abolition. 

On Jan. 9, hundreds gathered on the corner of a busy shopping area, rallying, chanting and taking to the streets. On Jan. 10, a militant rally in a local park was organized by Immigrant Families and Students Struggle (FIEL). Speakers with personal experience with ICE violence horrified the crowd with their observations. Ministers, doctors, lawyers and people from the community spoke about the terror that is becoming more and more common in Houston.

A physician said a 10-year-old child was getting cancer treatments when he was deported. Dr. Audrey Nath said, “Gov. [Greg] Abbott signed an executive order in 2024 that requires hospitals to ask anyone going into a hospital what their citizenship status is. I am a physician, and I know that that information has not a damn thing to do with me treating a patient. ICE harms public health through death at the border, through deaths at detention, through deportations!” 

Cesar Espinosa, the director of FIEL, introduced a young teen with disabilities and his mother. Emmanuel Gonzales Garcia wandered off from his mother, who sells fruit at a stand on the street. She could not find him, but the Houston police were holding him and claimed they did not recognize his name from the missing person’s report his mother had made. The cops called ICE and, for 48 days, this young disabled child was detained until activists raised hell with the City Council and police, holding press conferences. Espinosa reported that Houston has had more ICE raids and deportations than any other city in the country. 

Following the rally, the crowd walked one block to a bridge that passes over a busy freeway. With signs and banners the crowd filled both sides of the bridge, catching incoming and outgoing traffic during rush hour. Motorists below were honking, waving and putting fists in the air as they passed under the demonstrators. This went on for hours, and the honking in solidarity never let up. 

Then on Jan. 11, a rally of 300-400 was held at City Hall. It was militant and oriented to working people. Every speaker spoke about working people facing problems of housing, health care, jobs and now ICE terrorizing the communities, while the U.S. government is spending billions on war — from Palestine to Venezuela to right here by occupying communities with cops, the border patrol and ICE agents. The multinational and multigenerational crowd filled City Hall Plaza and loudly welcomed each speaker.

At 7 p.m. on Jan. 8 at Dallas City Hall, a crowd of hundreds gathered to protest ICE — not only at City Hall but in the streets for several hours. Chants of “Justice For Renee Nicole Good!” were heard loud and clear for blocks around, and just when the majority of protesters returned to City Hall, a new chant began: “ICE just killed another person!” People in Dallas in no way intend to stop opposing these injustices, and it’s clear that they are just getting started.

Streets in Portland, Oregon, were filled with protesters all day on Saturday, Jan. 10 after the U.S. Border Patrol shot two Venezuelan immigrants on Jan. 8. Demonstrations also took place in cities from Salem to Vancouver. Nearly 1,000 people came out Saturday morning to Portland’s “ICE Out For Good” rally at Waterfront Park. Demands included Crush ICE, Stop Trump’s war on Venezuela, Free President Maduro and Cilia Flores, Impeach Trump for war crimes and End all sanctions against Venezuela. The rally was organized by groups including Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC), Indivisible, Portland DSA and People for Socialism.

Tyler, a speaker at the rally, told the audience that Renee Good was called a domestic terrorist by ICE agents. He said they call it terrorism if you don’t comply, if you talk back or drive away. Nafisa Fai, a Somalian American and commissioner in Washington County in Portland said the government is sending ICE in to murder people: “We are being bullied. They will stop when we stop them, and we can stop them.”

The demonstrations followed an incident involving Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who shot and wounded two Portland community members on Jan. 8. The married couple was driving away from the agents after being forced to stop their truck in a “targeted stop.” They were accused by the agents of weaponizing their truck. Targeted stops, like stop and frisk policies, are controversial for being racially motivated. The incident happened just a day after an ICE agent fatally shot Good in Minneapolis. Federal agents claimed the victims were illegal Venezuelan immigrants associated with an alleged drug group, Tren de Aragua, but no evidence has been produced to substantiate those claims. 

At the end of the day on Jan. 10, hundreds of protesters held a candlelight vigil for those affected by U.S. immigration raids and violence by ICE and federal agents. Six protesters were arrested during the ongoing protests at Portland’s ICE facility. A report in early January showed that over 80 protesters have been recently arrested at the same fortress.

A demonstration of 200 people at Portland’s Legacy Immanuel Hospital also took place on Jan. 10. Legacy is where ICE agents bring people injured during arrests and where the female victim of Thursday’s shooting was taken. Demonstrators protested ICE’s impact on patient health care and unlawful access to patients and patients’ medical information. It is making people afraid to come in for care for fear they will be kidnapped from Legacy doctors’ offices by ICE.

The thousands of people marching downtown New York’s Fifth Avenue from 60th Street on Jan. 11 made up one of the 1,000 demonstrations held across the U.S. over the weekend. Like some of the anti-Trump actions in 2025, this one represented the overall opposition to the neofascist wannabe Emperor in the White House. But it also responded in anger to the U.S. military aggression and piracy against Venezuela and especially to the ICE stormtrooper’s murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Its main slogans were No kings! and No war! and especially: No ICE!

Alex Colwell, Martha Grevatt, Dianne Mathiowetz, Lyn Neeley, Joe Piette and Gloria Rubac and Workers World New York bureau contributed to this article.