One day after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman during an attempted traffic stop in Minnesota, dozens of outraged demonstrators gathered in downtown San Diego Thursday to decry the agency's "violent, out-of-control" tactics.
Participants in the midday protest, organized by a coalition of labor groups, marched, chanted and carried signs outside Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, calling for "justice" over the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, a poet and mother of three.
In a statement released prior to the event, Service Employees International Union Local 221 stated that local critics of the federal agency were "calling for an end to violent, out-of-control immigration operations with ICE raiding communities and tearing families apart."
"The San Diego group says fear, displacement and dehumanizing politics used to attack and kill working people must stop," the labor agency asserted.
The federal building in the 200 block of West Broadway was chosen as the site for the demonstration because ICE has a detention center there.
By late afternoon, the protesters had dispersed, with police reporting no significant problems or arrests related to the gathering.
Good was killed Wednesday during an attempted Immigrations and Customs Enforcement stop in Minneapolis. In a now-viral video, an ICE agent, who has yet to be identified, fired several rounds at her through her windshield as she apparently was trying to drive away.
"Renee was one of the kindest people I've ever known," Donna Ganger, Good's mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune. "She was extremely compassionate. She's taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being."
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, described Good as a "legal observer." Minneapolis Police Department Chief Brian O'Hara said it does not appear the woman was the "target of any law enforcement investigation or activity."
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the ICE agent acted in self-defense after Good hit him with her car, requiring a hospital visit.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris had a different view.
"Many of us have seen the horrifying and painful video, which makes it clear that the Trump administration's explanation of this shooting is pure gaslighting," Harris said.
On social media, President Donald Trump stated, "I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.
"Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis.
"They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!"
