One week into 2026, and a U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agent kills Renée Nicole Macklin Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in her car. She was 37 years old. She was a U.S. citizen. She was a mother. Her dog sat in the backseat. Her wife was outside. Her son at a nearby elementary school.
Cell phones recording everywhere. Her neighbors recorded. The ICE agent recorded with one hand. His other hand held a gun.
“I’m not mad at you.” Her last words.
A different ICE agent tugs on her car door. Why? Unclear. She is an American citizen. She has not committed a crime. ICE’s scope is finding and detaining undocumented immigrants. There’s no reason to believe she or the dog in her backseat is an undocumented immigrant.
If an armed masked man tugged on my car door, I would be terrified. What happens if he opens the door? Am I arrested? Am I assaulted? What decision do I make in that split second?
She tries to leave. Jonathan Ross is near the car. Maybe he has trauma associated with a previous car-related work injury. He doesn’t only get out of the way of the car. He also shoots. He shoots again. He shoots again.
The car with an unconscious driver speeds down the street, crashing.
“Fucking bitch.” Appears to be his first words after firing his shots.
A doctor on the scene was not allowed to help. EMTs eventually make it near the scene, unable to get close due to ICE vehicles blocking the street. ICE agents carry Renée’s likely already dead body to the ambulance.
Cell phones recording everywhere. Her neighbors recorded. The ICE agent recorded with one hand. His other hand held a gun.
I reiterate this because we have videos. Every day, a new video is released. And yet, our federal government has decided that Renée is guilty. Guilty of not complying. Guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Guilty of not supporting ICE. Guilty of holding progressive values. Her sentence is death. Decided by Jonathan Ross.
After he kills her, he walks away. He does not provide life-saving first aid. Someone identifies themselves as a physician. Asks to check a pulse.
The doctor is forced to watch her die. Her neighbors are forced to watch her die. Her wife is forced to watch her die.
The people employed by our federal government? They do nothing. We talk about “waste, fraud, and abuse.” What do we call this? We pay them to stand around while someone dies. Is that waste? Or fraud? Or abuse?
I have felt heavy. I open social media to see a woman murdered by a government employee. I open social media to see the Vice President, the Department of Homeland Security, and other government leaders defend ICE agent Jonathan’s actions. I open social media and see a handful of posts by people I know, horrified at what we’ve seen.
I know that social media is not the only place to express frustration, disgust, sadness.
However, I worry. I worry that those who posted daily about a different public execution are now silent. I worry that people are becoming numb to dehumanization at the hands of federal employees.
A local news outlet shared an AP article about the killing on Facebook. The most popular reaction was the laughing emoji. The laughing emoji. Haha. A woman lost her life. Children lost their mother. A family lost their daughter. A woman lost her wife. That is so funny. The laughing emoji. Many of the comments said that this was her fault. She intentionally tried to run over the ICE agents. She was a despicable human being. She should’ve stayed out of the situation and let the agents do their job.
Dehumanization. Dehumanization. Dehumanization.
I am not necessarily shocked by an ICE agent acting extrajudicially. They have been given free reign to detain people they think might be undocumented. (I stated that purposefully.)
I am shocked by how we are coming to different conclusions after watching the same videos. I’m shocked at people laughing. I’m shocked that I seem to be agreeing with Tucker Carlson. I’m shocked that the Vice President is on social media arguing with nameless accounts (as if he’s an online personality and not one death away from the Presidency) about why Renée deserved to die. And why Jonathan is the victim. It feels surreal.
I’m not making a legal argument or conducting a political analysis, although I’m tempted. I know that there is no success to be found in trying to convince anyone of my perspective.
But I am devastated. And I want you to know that if you, too, are devastated, I am right here with you. I am heartbroken. I am furious. I feel powerless. I feel scared. I’m confused. It feels wrong to just continue to live my daily life.
Angering an ICE agent should not warrant murder. However you feel about immigration or the border, I would hope we could agree on that.
Renée Good should be here today.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah
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