We Filmed ICE. Now What?
Documenting state murder and hoping for future prosecution isn't enough.
Since Donald Trump unleashed his Blackshirts onto the American public, the foremost community defense tactic has been transparency. Every legal observer and passerby was instructed to “record ICE” in hopes that the threat of future prosecution would deter violence, abuse, and other crimes. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker even constructed a database to store videotaped abuses for the post-Trump era. Without diminishing the good intentions or the bravery of American citizens who risked their safety and liberty to document state terrorism, it didn’t work.
On Wednesday, ICE killed a woman in Minneapolis. Renee Nicole Good, a thirty-seven-year-old mother of three, was attempting to move her vehicle when an ICE agent fired three shots at point-blank range into her face. You can watch the video here. I suggest you don’t.
They shot her. In the head. In the middle of the street. In broad daylight. Renee’s blood splattered the stuffed animal in the passenger seat, waiting for her six-year-old child. Then her killers celebrated.
When a doctor tried to save Good’s life, ICE stopped him. The video is here, but again, it’s graphic. (They all are.) But the dialogue is unmistakable.
“Can I check her pulse?”
“No. Back up now.”
“I’m a physician.”
“I don’t care.”
Immediately, the copaganda industrial complex kicked into high gear. The standard excuse of the killer cop “fearing for his life” fused with the right-wing cultural grievances that dictate American society. Before Renee Good was even identified as the victim, Kristi Noem labelled her a “domestic terrorist.” The Department of Homeland Security tried to connect the killing to the manufactured panic over Somali daycares by staging a photo op of agents discovering Minnesota “fraud.” Predictably, Trump claimed the agent shot in self-defense and blamed the episode on the Radical Left. Pretty much every conservative, all who claim to worship the Constitutional values of small government, individual liberties, and the sanctity of American jurisprudence, raced to excuse the government’s murder of a citizen and personally lick the killer’s boots. National Review editor in chief Rich Lowry called the crime “unprosecutable,” stating, “The officer will have a good case was in fear of his life, even if in retrospect it looks like he could have gotten out of the way.” Kyle Smith, a Wall Street Journal writer, justified cops killing drivers because, “When someone is putting a foot on the gas pedal, folks, it can speed up rather quickly.” In the conservative mind, an American’s right to life, liberty, and justice, the values they clutch fervently to defend corporations being sued by the EPA, are voided if the government’s roid-raged agents get scared. With cowardice a job requirement for law enforcement, something as simple as sitting in a parked car is justification for the Small Government™️ to kill you without trial.
I’m no fan of The New York Times, but their video analysis debunking the self-defense excuses is excellent.
While the media mouthpieces sell the self-defense narrative to their gullible audiences, the federal government is openly obstructing the pursuit of justice. After shooting Renee Good, Agent Jonathan Ross walked away from her car and quickly left the scene - standard police procedure, I’m sure. Immediately, a joint investigation between the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was launched, only for the Minnesota investigators to be cut out hours later. According to the MBCA, the federal government is refusing to share “case materials, scene evidence, or investigative interviews,” effectively ending any investigation not controlled by Donald Trump. You know, the stuff you do when you’re innocent.
Telling citizens to “record ICE” is no longer enough. It never was. Americans like Renee Good risked their lives to document the state’s crimes. Those crimes are on camera, well-known, and growing more frequent and violent. Enraged by the protestors challenging their authority at the scene of Good’s murder, Border Patrol agents rioted at a nearby high school later that day. Led by Commander Greg Bovino, agents drove to Minnesota’s Roosevelt High School in unmarked SUVs and began indiscriminately tackling, beating, and gassing students, parents, and teachers alike.
The violence was so traumatic that Minnesota Public Schools cancelled classes for the rest of the week.
“The guy, I’m telling him like, ‘Please step off the school grounds,’ and this dude comes up and bumps into me and then tells me that I pushed him, and he’s trying to push me, and he knocked me down. They don’t care. They’re just animals. I’ve never seen people behave like this.” - Anonymous official describing the ICE riot at Roosevelet High School
We know where this is going. Within a year, the murderer, Agent Jonathan Ross, will be a conservative celebrity. He’ll be on a TPUSA stage recounting the harrowing tale of how he bravely shot an unarmed mother for driving a Honda Pilot at 2 MPH. Democrats who are more afraid of responsibility than actual violence will put up a show, then find a way to surrender. With a government shutdown looming at the end of the month, Democrats have leverage - and are already sacrificing it. When asked if addressing ICE’s violence would be a priority in funding negotiations, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said ICE accountability mechanisms would be addressed “at the appropriate time.” Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said a “very serious and important discussion” about ICE is needed, but made no pledge to make it an issue. The day before the Minnenopolis shooting, 2028 Democratic presidential nominee front-runner Gavin Newsom gave an interview to The Atlantic, soft-launching that his prospective administration would “turn the page on Trump” and not decline to prosecute criminals such as Ross. This is the exact same language Barack Obama used when turning a blind eye to George W. Bush’s war crimes, which directly led to the lawlessness and death now unleashed on American streets.
“There’s a sort of romantic version if you’re writing the script and you’ve got a nice soundtrack in the background,” Newsom said. “At the inaugural, the next president announces that he’s turning the page—” He caught himself. “Or she is turning the page on all of this. Throngs of boos, maybe, in the audience; I don’t know. ’Cause there’s a sense of vengeance and two can play this game, fight fire with fire.” At the same time, he thought that the country was exhausted. “There is an Isaiah part of all of this: We need whoever the next president is to be a ‘repairer of the breach.’ That should be a big part of the messaging for the next president. I hope they can maybe read the serenity prayer.”
These words might sound strange coming from a man who recently posted an AI-generated video of Trump in handcuffs. But I suspect that Gavin Newsom has a two-part strategy for reaching the presidency: wrestle with MAGA until the midterms, and then pivot to the high (and center) ground with kumbaya and jobs of the future for 2028. He admires Ronald Reagan’s final address as president, he said, a paean to immigration and the flaming torch of Lady Liberty. He must be longing to give a speech like that in a presidential campaign. — The Front-Runner, The Atlantic
As I write this, news broke that two protestors were shot by federal agents in Portland. Details are still emerging, but I’d bet good money the situation was similar to Minneapolis. It is a hard Rubicon to mentally cross, but we must admit that transparency and knowledge of ICE’s crimes are no longer enough. The Trump Administration is protecting killers while Democrats are signalling they’ll give a free pass to these fascist murderers. Meanwhile, ICE, Border Patrol, and the cops are acting rationally. Never facing consequences for their actions, they continue to kill and destroy without concern. Remember, Border Patrol felt insecure, so they attacked a high school. A fucking high school.
There is no savior coming to protect us from ICE or any of the other fascist agents rampaging over our streets. No Superman, no liberating army, nothing. We have only ourselves. Now more than ever, it’s time to live up to the evergreen motto of activists, organizers, and protestors: “We keep us safe.” Our only advantage is our numbers.
Join the Democratic Socialists of America. Find your local immigrants’ advocacy group and plug in. And, if you feel it’s safe for you and your family, it’s worth considering learning how to use a firearm for the purpose of legal self-defense. That might sound alarmist, but when Republican congressmen are openly stating cops can legally kill you for disobeying them, it’s time to consider all options.
"The bottom line is this: when a federal officer gives you instructions, you abide by them and then you get to keep you life.” — Congressmen Wesley Hunt
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In Solidarity - Joe
No hell hot enough for these ghouls.
I will say that I've appreciated Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's refusal to mince words so far. It's been a refreshing change. Words matter. Actions matter. The reality is that an agent of the state executed a US citizen in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses (and in front of as many phones). The only question now should be how long it takes for him to face the justice a jury of Good's peers decides he deserves.
The "next president"? The present regime fully demonstrates the failure of this pathetic constitution to prevent such thugs from gaining power, as well as the inability to end the obvious debacle. Time for a ground-up redo.