_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Minneapolis, Minnesota, is erupting in the aftermath of a fatal shooting by ICE officers of 37-year-old Renee Good.
Videos taken by bystanders show Good in her car in the middle of the road, blocking federal immigration officers from performing their duties. Officers then approach the vehicle and try to open the door. Good reverses, then accelerates into an officer who jolts out of the way, firing shots into the windshield.
Following the incident, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey went ballistic, telling ICE to “get the f**k out of Minneapolis,” and calling the officer’s claim of shooting in self-defense “bullst.” In response, demonstrations broke out in Minneapolis and in cities from San Francisco to New York, with some calling for violence against immigration officers.
_THE FACTS_
A nearby resident stated that Good was the main instigator against ICE and had been “successful” at disrupting their operations with her car.
President Trump claimed she “viciously ran over the ICE Officer” after being “disorderly, obstructing and resisting.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the same officer who opened fire was injured in June after being dragged by a car driven by an anti-ICE protester.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) dismissed the federal government’s defense, telling Minnesotans, “Don’t believe this propaganda machine.”
Almost immediately, groups ranging from socialists and communists to pro-Palestinian activists launched what appeared to be coordinated protests across the country.
Protesters smashed the doors of the federal courthouse, chanting “ICE out now!”
Governor Walz placed the National Guard on standby.
On Reddit, users are threatening to take up arms against ICE agents, saying, “The first shots have been fired.”
_INSIGHTS_
As the killing is investigated and the court of public opinion weighs whether the officer acted in self-defense, Minneapolis and cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and New York are already seeing large-scale anti-ICE demonstrations.
The ongoing protests are especially volatile because the shooting occurred less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed. That location carries the heavy weight of recent history and threatens to ignite similar unrest in a city still scarred by the extraordinarily violent and destructive Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.
