Fremont demands “ICE Out 4 Good” at Renee Good vigil and protest

By Finnegan McCarthy & Aarav Vashisht

On January 7, while driving in Minneapolis in her car on a snowy residential street, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent for refusing to move her car to allow law enforcement to pass. The event has since sparked controversy nationwide, with protests quickly arranged across the week of the shooting. In a show of local solidarity, hundreds of members of Fremont’s community gathered in front of the Fremont Hall of Justice on January 11, offering their condolences at Good’s vigil and protesting against ICE’s rampant enforcement operations. 

Organized by Indivisible Fremont and featuring spokespeople from the Tri-City Interfaith Council, the vigil gathered community members who carried anti-ICE signs, white roses, and lit candles in hand. The observance began with commemorative speeches in Good’s honor, during which several citizens shared their own personal experiences with ICE, as well as their grievances with the enforcement. “How can I just stay at home and be quiet about it? We have to speak up. If you don’t speak up, then silence is [complicity]. I’m not [complicit]. I don’t want to be like that,” Union City resident Shamsa, who only provided her first name, said. 

Amid the ceremony, several protestors started to move toward the building’s perimeter, lining the block along Paseo Padre Parkway. From the local Chevron gas station stretching all the way to the Fremont Main Library, demonstrators waved their signs in a mournful silence. All of the protestors had a shared goal: to demonstrate their opposition to President Donald Trump’s recent immigration crackdowns while demanding accountability for Good’s death. For many, including protestor Ghada Srour, the demonstration was a way for the community to express their opinions freely surrounding immigration enforcement. “Everything that’s been going on at the national level is a build-up, and a reason for us to call [out] injustice and oppose laws and rules that are tyranny, basically,” Srour said.  The protest received a vast amount of support, as a chorus of passing cars honked their horns in acknowledgment, with some passersby even joining the demonstration.

Recognition was given to the individuals who were subjected to and killed during ICE’s operations across the nation, with the crowd repeating the phrase “May our hearts mourn, but still grow in love.” Subsequently, some members of the community delivered poignant yet powerful poems. Lauren Teixeira, a co-leader of Indivisible Fremont, shared a poem she wrote the night of Good’s death. Spoken with intense passion, Teixeria expressed her shock about the situation. Onlookers stood silent with their heads bowed to the ground. 

The vigil ended with a lamentable hymn and prayer filling the evening air. The vigil crowd dispersed into hugs and quiet observance of the temporary memorial set up. Some admired hand-made posters of the deceased, while others joined the peaceful demonstrators on the corner. “You can’t just stand still and let it happen. You have to do what you can to protect what generations have fought for,” an anonymous protestor said.