The killing of Renee Nicole Good by a federal immigration enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week has triggered a surge of public anger that is now unfolding visibly in the streets. Videos circulating online show residents openly confronting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and demanding that they leave local neighborhoods, even as most demonstrations in the city and across the country have remained peaceful.
The growing outrage follows reports that President Donald Trump ordered additional federal officers to Minneapolis after Good was killed, despite calls from local and state officials to halt operations in order to reduce tensions. The move has coincided with a shift in public response from mourning and solidarity toward direct confrontation.
On Sunday, journalist and documentarian Ford Fischer posted video from Minneapolis showing ICE agents being “followed by dozens of activists on foot and in vehicles.” In the footage, federal agents are seen holding bear spray and warning civilians to stay back as residents trail them through city streets.
“You are murderers!” one man yells at the officers. Other voices can be heard shouting, “Go home!” and “Fuck you!”
In a separate video posted by FreedomNews.TV, federal agents are seen pulling two people from a vehicle on a residential street and placing them under arrest. As the arrests unfold, neighbors and onlookers confront the officers, yelling, “Get out of our fucking state!” “Get the fuck out!” and “Get a real job!”
Independent journalist Brian Allen described the scenes as evidence of rising tensions rather than public safety.
“Protesters in the area are furious, and tensions are exploding,” Allen said. “This is escalation, not policing.”
The confrontations come amid broader concern over what many residents describe as an authoritarian federal presence in civilian neighborhoods. Good’s killing has intensified scrutiny of ICE tactics and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement strategy.
While city and state officials have urged calm and emphasized the importance of peaceful protest, some lawmakers have warned that the federal response may be deliberately provocative. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said the administration’s approach appears designed to inflame tensions.
“The ultimate goal is to agitate people enough where they are able to invoke the Insurrection Act to declare martial law,” Omar warned, as reported by Common Dreams.
Despite the confrontations captured on video, protests across Minneapolis and hundreds of other cities over the weekend were widely described as peaceful. City officials highlighted the contrast between mass nonviolent demonstrations and the escalating federal presence.
“A peaceful night in Minneapolis,” the city posted to its social media accounts following Saturday’s demonstrations. “As more demonstrations are planned today, we appreciate and thank the community for using its collective voice in harmony and love.”
The Minneapolis protests were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations held under the banner “ICE Out for Good.” Hundreds of rallies took place from Minneapolis to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine. Organizers included the Not Above the Law Coalition, MoveOn, the ACLU, Indivisible, and other advocacy groups.
The protests came just one day after Good was killed and as reports emerged that two additional people were shot and wounded by federal agents in Portland, Oregon. Protest organizers framed the incidents as part of a broader pattern rather than isolated cases.
“Renee Nicole Good and the Portland victims are just the most recent victims of ICE’s reign of terror,” said the 50501 movement, one of the groups behind the weekend protests. “ICE has brutalized communities for decades, but its violence under the Trump regime has accelerated.”
Many demonstrators linked Good’s killing to other actions by the Trump administration, including the recent U.S. military attack on Venezuela that resulted in the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Protesters pointed to the proximity of these events as emblematic of the administration’s increasingly violent posture.
The protests also coincided with the fifth anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection. While many marked the occasion with solemn remembrance, the Trump administration released a revised account of the day that critics described as gaslighting.
Mother Jones journalist David Corn wrote of the convergence of recent events: “The military assault on Venezuela, the shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent, the launch of the White House’s new revisionist website about January 6, these three events convey a powerful and unsettling message from Donald Trump and his crew: Violence is ours to use, at home and abroad, to get what we want.”
At protests nationwide, demonstrators described a growing sense that the current moment represents a turning point. Ben Person, a 49 year old marcher in Minneapolis, told the New York Times, “It feels like maybe we’re hitting a tipping point.”
Other protesters articulated more sweeping demands. One demonstrator in Minneapolis told Status Coup News, “We’re here to say fuck Trump, abolish ICE, arrest Jonathan Ross, impeach Kristi Noem, and bring justice to anyone who’s ever been wronged by the patriarchy and fascist communities.”
Civil liberties groups echoed concerns that federal enforcement agencies are operating without sufficient restraint. Deirdre Schifeling of the ACLU said the shootings underscored a dangerous loss of control.
“The shootings in Minneapolis and Portland were not the beginning of ICE’s cruelty, but they need to be the end,” Schifeling said. “These tragedies are simply proof of one fact: the Trump administration and its federal agents are out of control, endangering our neighborhoods, and trampling on our rights and freedom. This weekend, Americans all across the country are demanding that they stop.”
As demonstrations continue, organizers have emphasized that resistance must remain nonviolent and rooted in solidarity. Pablo Alvarado, co executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, outlined that approach.
“We will resist the government’s attacks by building community, by documenting atrocities, by protesting nonviolently, by showing kindness and solidarity at all times,” Alvarado said. “We will meet them in the streets, in the courts, at the day labor corners. We will meet them everywhere. And we will win. We are not afraid or discouraged. And we will not be defeated.”
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