Renee Good’s killing reveals how far the state will go

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Before Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent last month, many people still believed that ICE posed a threat only to undocumented immigrants.

But the truth is, no one is safe.

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Renee Good’s killing reveals how far the state will go

Mikki Charles

Until the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis earlier this month, many people still believed that federal immigration enforcement posed a threat only to undocumented immigrants.

Good’s killing shattered that myth. Her death sent shockwaves across the country and served as a brutal warning: no one is exempt from state violence. Regardless of race, gender, or immigration status, when the state decides force is justified, Black lives – citizen or migrant – are rendered disposable.

ICE’s expanding presence under Donald Trump has intensified collaboration between federal agents and local police departments. Local law enforcement now supplies ICE with intelligence, mapping tools, and access to entire neighbourhoods, effectively turning cities into enforcement zones. Homes, workplaces, schools and hospitals have become sites of capture.

At the same time, ICE deploys surveillance technologies to track people’s digital footprints at scale, often without warrants or judicial oversight. Federal agents – frequently without training in community policing – conduct traffic stops and routine encounters that quickly escalate into interrogation, harassment, detention, and, increasingly, violence, including against US citizens and permanent residents.

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This mass deployment of federal agents has deepened mistrust while confirming what Black communities have long known: immigration enforcement operates through surveillance, intimidation, and impunity. The same systems that have historically over-policed Black Americans are now reinforced through federal immigration power. For Black migrants – particularly African, Caribbean, and Afro-Latinx communities – this convergence is especially dangerous. It exposes people to multiple armed agencies at once, escalates everyday encounters, and dramatically increases the risk of violence in already marginalised neighbourhoods.

Black migrants are routinely erased from mainstream immigration narratives that centre non-Black Latinx experiences. Statistically, Black immigrants are disproportionately detained and deported, more likely to experience use of force, and more vulnerable to criminalisation due to racial profiling. Recent ICE shootings are not deviations from this pattern – they are predictable outcomes of a system that criminalises Blackness first and asks questions later.

Federal officials have attempted to frame the shooting of Renee Good as an isolated act of “self-defense,” but just days into 2026, four people have already died in ICE custody. For Black migrants and the Black communities more broadly, this violence is not an anomaly. It is part of a long and deadly history of racialized state violence, routinely justified through hollow claims of “community safety” and “law enforcement.” Instead of investing in housing, healthcare, food access, or stability, the state continues to define safety through punishment, isolation, and force. In this framework, safety is conditional, and violence is constant.

This logic mirrors the narratives long used to justify police violence against Black Americans. Black-led migrant justice organizations have warned for years about the unchecked power of ICE and the deadly consequences of enforcement-first immigration policy. Immigration justice cannot be separated from racial justice.

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Black bodies – especially those marked as foreign – are framed as inherently dangerous, making excessive force appear acceptable under the immense authority of federal immigration law. This system operates with minimal oversight, limited transparency, and devastating consequences.

We are also witnessing how domestic enforcement mirrors US foreign policy abroad. Many Black migrants come from African and Caribbean nations destabilized by U.S. imperialism, colonization, and intervention – conditions that force migration as a means of survival. These same communities are now subjected to mass surveillance, detention, and deportation on US soil.

The abuse of power experienced within US borders is inseparable from the violence exported beyond them. State violence against Black migrants is global, not incidental. The killing of Renee Good exposed the extreme lengths the state is willing to go to assert its authority.

In response, communities nationwide have mobilized – organizing protests, holding vigils, and filing lawsuits. But this moment demands far more. Accountability is long overdue. Independent investigations, transparent reporting and meaningful oversight of ICE must be non-negotiable. Policymakers, media institutions, and taxpayers must confront what is being carried out in their name.

Globally, we must reimagine responses to migration that do not rely on over-policing, caging and control. Community-centered approaches rooted in care, dignity, and self-determination already exist – and they work. If immigration enforcement continues to expand unchecked, more lives will be lost – and state violence will become the norm wherever Black migrants seek safety.

***

The UndocuBlack Network (UBN) is a movement of Black immigrants advancing racial, economic, and immigrant justice. UBN builds power through advocacy, leadership development, and strategic organizing while centering wellness, dignity, and collective care as essential to the safety and survival of Black immigrant communities.

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