On January 7, 2025, the United States witnessed an alarming stroke of reality pertaining to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more widely referred to as ICE.  

Reneé Nicole Good, a 37-year-old United States citizen, began her day with a goal in mind: to protest the increasing surveillance of ICE agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She and her wife, Rebecca Good, stopped their car perpendicular to the snowy road to impede an ICE operation that had just taken place in the city, aiming to deport Somali immigrants in the area. The couple brought whistles and taunting remarks, whereas an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and Iraq War veteran named Jonathan Ross brought his gun. 

The incident began when Ross approached the driver’s side door of Good’s Honda and ordered her to “get out of the car.” An attempt was made by Good to exit the scene by putting her car into reverse and then trying to drive backwards and out of the street. During Reneé’s attempt to mitigate the dispute, another agent’s hand was seen on the handle of Reneé’s door, trying to open it, while Ross stood at the front end of the car. 

Good’s final words, according to various angles from numerous recordings, are as follows: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” She then turned her wheel to the right and began to drive away from the situation. As soon as her foot hit the gas pedal, Ross fired three shots through the front windshield, continuing to record his own actions on his cell phone. Good, making use of her final seconds of life, attempted to drive away and avoid Ross’s line of fire. Seconds later, she crashed into a nearby car, her getaway futile, and her life terminated. Ross was able to walk away from the scene, but later a report emerged from U.S. officials that he had suffered from an unknown extent of internal bleeding after being struck by Good’s SUV (The Guardian). 

An unknown bystander attempted to determine the state of Good by checking her pulse, but was immediately shunned by the ICE agents. After identifying himself as a physician, one officer replied, “I don’t care,” as another explained that they had their own EMS on the way. By this point, many alarmed neighbors were flooding the scene, accompanied by the witnesses of the murder. 

Several state leaders have said that Good was at the scene of an ICE raid in the south of Minneapolis as a legal observer – a volunteer who monitors police and security forces at protests and operations. However, recently, many White House officials have interjected. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem explained that Good had “weaponised her vehicle” by trying to run over one of the officers “in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism.” This was followed by a statement from Vice President JD Vance, announcing that ICE agents will be going “door to door” and using methods like racial profiling in order to carry out President Trump’s plans for one of his largest mass deportations yet (USA Today). What this entails for the future of United States citizens is unknown and unsettling. 

However, the most unsettling factor of the whole situation is Good’s status in comparison to other ICE-related deaths. Surely, her death was the most outwardly violent, but the American media has failed to give justice and commemorate the deaths of the 34 other people who have lost their lives in ICE custody, the highest number seen in 2 decades (The Guardian). This may be in part because of their race. Everyone taken into ICE custody is a person of a racial minority, compared to Good, who was white. This is up for interpretation, but it seems to be another case of the public choosing to ignore tragedy when it comes to the case of a minority race. 

Jonathan Ross currently has no set trial date, as confusion between Minnesota state law and the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution could potentially grant him immunity. It is still not determined whether or not he will be charged with her death.

So, what do you think? Was Ross acting in a state of mindless panic and self-defense against a domestic threat, or did his emotions get the best of him and end the life of a harmless protestor?