Standing up to ICE, together

By the Smoke Signal Editorial Board

Three gun shots. A car stopped. A woman dead. On January 7, 37-year-old US citizen Renee Good was fatally shot in the face three times by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota. According to ABC News, the situation escalated after Good attempted to drive away from the officer, shortly before three shots erupted from Ross’s service pistol. Despite cries for justice, the Trump administration repudiated the overuse of force, with Vice President JD Vance  insinuating the officer was right to defend his life against a “deranged leftist” on X.

Sadly, Good’s killing and its dismissal by the administration is not the first instance of government-backed ICE brutality, nor was it the last. Just two weeks later on January 24, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot — twelve times — in a similar situation as the Minneapolis crisis further escalated.

The Minneapolis murders are part of an insidious and worsening trend of ICE’s use of excessive force. In 2025 alone, at least 32 people died in their custody, a record for the agency since its foundation in 2004. During standoffs in major cities like Chicago, federal agents from ICE and other agencies tear-gassed peaceful protestors, raising legal concerns from federal judges and human rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), even as Trump himself continued to offer ICE steadfast and unequivocal support. 

Good’s murder is a stark reminder that legal status is no immunity to injustice and violence from ICE. Without suffering severe legal repercussions, ICE detains citizens as well, fueled by unfounded suspicion from racial biases and deportation quotas. According to an October 2025 ProPublica study, more than 170 American citizens had been detained by ICE earlier that year. This evidence signals many confrontations unfold on the basis of wrongful charges, a troubling issue. At its core, ICE’s brutal detainment methods are a flagrant breach of human rights, with its violent methods destroying public sense of safety and community. A clip from CBS Chicago in October 2025 displays two ICE agents pinning down a man and slamming his head against the ground. Letting these grievances go unaddressed normalizes rampant unchecked power, trampling civil liberties and perpetuating distrust in the government. A CBS News poll done from January 14-16 revealed that 61% believed ICE is being too tough when detaining people, with 52% believing the communities are less safe. 

Indeed, merciless and senseless as Good’s killing was, it reflects only what can be seen in literal open daylight, to a white woman. ICE’s abuse is disproportionately targeted toward minorities, and much of it proverbially occurs in the dark, making it that much more difficult to identify and fight back against.

Nonetheless, as residents of the Bay Area far away from the flashpoints of ICE brutality, it’s easy to detach ourselves from the actions of ICE, to tell ourselves that our lives can’t be affected. However, any such attitude only further enables ICE, both close to home and elsewhere. In fact, it has already touched our own community: on November 8, 2025, federal agents notified the Fremont Police Department of “immigration enforcement and/or follow-up,” specifically in the Sundale neighborhood. Although local police did not provide assistance to ICE, it was also unable to prevent the searches from being carried out and for ICE agents to infiltrate Fremont neighborhoods, instilling a sense of paranoia and loss of agency in local residents.

In the face of hopelessness from the injustices of ICE and inadequate government response, it’s critical for citizens to unite and resist. In April 2025, Nashville neighbors stepped up to protect a man and his 12-year-old child from ICE. They provided food, water, and gasoline in a four-hour standoff with ICE agents, even forming a human chain around the the man’s RV to ensure he and his son weren’t abducted. Then on June 14, 2025, also known as “No Kings Day,” protestors against rising authoritarianism gathered in every corner of the country. Larger demonstrations followed on October 18, amassing over 7 million demonstrators nationally, including in Fremont itself. Individual, yet consequential, acts of resistance demonstrate that ordinary Americans have the power to defend what is right. We don’t have to stay silent — we can fight injustice.

The protests against ICE, after all, are only as strong as the sum of each of its 7 million individual parts. No person is too small to make a difference to play an important part in a bigger movement. And unity across people from all backgrounds undercuts a foundational aim of the administration in its utilization of ICE — dividing Americans and targeting certain groups. Even as high schoolers cocooned in a bubble, we must stay vigilant and informed. We must take active part, even as simple as joining a local protest or writing to our member of Congress. Because alongside friends, organizations, communities, we can drive tangible change.