Protesters, ICE face off with tensions high in Minneapolis after fatal shooting

MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters in Minneapolis shouted during a tense standoff with masked federal agents Thursday as public anger over the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer continued to seethe.

Demonstrators stood defiant near the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which houses the local ICE headquarters, the day after an ICE officer shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in the head.

While protesters called the shooting unjustified, President Donald Trump and members of his administration have insisted the officer acted in self-defence.

Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection official who is the face of the immigration crackdown, walked among the officers and stared directly at protesters as they yelled for ICE to leave the state. Tensions flared throughout the day, with some protesters being taken into custody and others being sprayed with an irritant agent.

“I’m a local guy. I live here and this is a nice place and it’s a very nice place to live and we are angry about what happened yesterday,” said Jeff Howison, holding a sign that said “ICE Out!”

“Nobody wants these ICE agents here in our city and I would like them to leave.”

More than 2,000 ICE officers are deployed to the area and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they will be staying despite pleas from state and local officials for them to leave Minnesota, which shares a long border with Manitoba and Ontario.

Howison said he disagreed with ICE’s tactics but had not protested the agency before Thursday. He said the fatal shooting “crossed a line.”

“There was absolutely no reason for that officer to have fired his gun. I am outraged and sad and angry,” he said.

Robin Beckman, who also attended Thursday’s protest, said it’s completely unnecessary to have ICE agents patrolling the residential streets of Minneapolis.

“People are dying. People are being kidnapped. People are losing their loved ones and don’t know where they are. It’s incredibly frightening,” she said. “And here in Minnesota we don’t need to have border patrol patrolling our streets.”

The Trump administration ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts in Minneapolis this week and is describing it as its biggest operation ever.

Minneapolis Public Schools cancelled classes for the rest of the week, citing “safety concerns.” Local news reports said armed U.S. Border Patrol officers walked onto a local high school’s property Wednesday, tackling people, taking others into custody and spraying an irritant as students were leaving for the day.

That same day, Good’s killing was caught on video by multiple bystanders on a snowy residential street south of downtown. The video evoked emotional reactions from residents in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul — many of whom still clearly remember the massive protests after police killed George Floyd in 2020.

In Washington on Thursday, Vice-President JD Vance insisted the shooting was justified and called Good a “victim of left-wing ideology.”

Gov. Tim Walz called Thursday for the state to be involved in the investigation of Good’s death after the Minnesota agency that probes officer-involved shootings was told that the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department would not hand over any information or evidence.

Walz said it would be difficult for Minnesotans to accept as fair any investigation that excludes the state.

Noem said the state has no jurisdiction.

People continued to gather Thursday on the narrow street where Good was killed. Some knelt down to pray in front of a growing pile of flowers on the snowy curb.

Garbage bins and wood were used to prevent traffic from entering the block where people gathered to hug, cry and express their outrage. A message written on the asphalt in the middle of the road said: “They killed one of us for watching them, we know it works, they are afraid. KEEP WATCHING.”

Multiple faith ministries came together to hold a vigil at the site, said Minister JaNaé Bates Imari, one of the organizers. She said Minnesota is a “state that feels very much under siege right now.”

“We all deserve to have dignity and humanity recognized,” she said.

The thousands of people who came to pay their respects at the site are feeling real anger and grief, said Imari, but they’re also looking for healing.

She said faith leaders have called for the officer involved to be prosecuted, for ICE to leave the state and for Congress to provide oversight and accountability.

“This is supposed to be the United States of America. This is supposed to be the land of the free. This is supposed to be a place where people can attain some level of stability, liberation, freedom, dignity, as bare bones,” Imari said.

“And it is being snatched from all of us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press