Hundreds in Boise protest against ICE after shootings in Minneapolis, Portland
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Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Hundreds of people in Boise joined protesters across the country to express outrage toward U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by a federal agent and another ICE-involved shooting in Portland.
The killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday morning sparked what activists called an “emergency protest.” Good was shot and killed while in her car during an immigration operation in a residential area in Minneapolis.
RELATED | Minneapolis protesters vent their outrage after an ICE officer kills a woman
On Thursday afternoon, Portland police officers were notified of two people shot during another targeted immigration operation. The two were taken to the hospital, according to Portland Channel 8.
Nearly 500 people gathered Thursday night in front of Boise City Hall holding signs and chanting for the oust of ICE in Idaho communities and accountability for the officers who shot the three individuals.
Some Idahoans said they were “sickened” by the video of the Minnesota shooting. Jennifer Harrington, a Boise resident for two decades, said she came to the protest to support her community and stand up against ICE enforcement.
“Knowing that people in our community are suffering for no reason really,” Harrington said, “it just it makes your heart hurt to know that children are being separated from their families and people are being sent to horrible facilities where they have no quality of life whatsoever.”
Activists, Democrats hold news conference
Just before the protest, activist leaders and Democrats running for Idaho offices held a press conference to speak on the shooting and call for Idaho elected officials to sever ties with ICE.
Kaylee Peterson, a candidate for the U.S. House in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District, said the Minneapolis shooting was the product of untrained personnel given “a badge and a gun” to use at their will.
“What we saw yesterday was so far beyond the reaches of American law enforcement or ICE agents that this should never have happened,” Peterson said. “It is a basic fundamental principle in this country that no law enforcement officer can be judge, jury and executioner.”
The Trump administration’s Kristi Noem, head of Department of Homeland Security, said Good was trying to run over the ICE agent in her car, and the agent fired in self-defense.
The New York Times published a video analysis using video footage from different angles and concluded the woman was not trying to run over the agent but was trying to drive away when the ICE agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, pulled out a gun and shot her.
Joe Turmes, a leading organizer with Idaho 50501, said he is calling on Idaho elected officials to no longer cooperate with ICE and hold ICE accountable for actions taken during the October FBI-led raid on a Wilder horse racetrack. That left over 100 people detained, and some children were reported to have been zip-tied by ICE agents.
“What happened in Minnesota yesterday was a predictable eventuality, a police force with no local oversights, no accountability and a mandate for cruelty that will eventually always be exposed in the daylight, a predictable catastrophe and a dead citizen,” Turmes said at the press conference.
The 50501 movement says it is about “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.” The number is shorthand for “50 states, 50 protests, one movement.”
Gubernatorial candidate Terri Pickens called on Gov. Brad Little to rescind an agreement the Idaho State Police made with ICE.
The state police signed what’s known as a 287(g) agreement with ICE in June under what’s called the Task Force Model. The agreement gives state troopers the ability to interrogate anyone believed to be an immigrant, arrest immigrants in certain instances, and transport immigrants to ICE.
Little had previously stated that the State Police would target only undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes and already set to be deported. Reporting by the Idaho Statesman found that in Little’s “Operation No Return,” where 53 men were identified and taken to ICE detention centers, most had no history of violent convictions. The more-expansive agreement has also drawn racial profiling concerns.
Activists called for DHS and ICE to agree to follow standard policing norms, including following legal processes related to judicial warrants before detainment; banning agents from wearing masks; requiring proper uniforms and providing badge numbers; requiring Miranda rights to be read; and following due process with prosecution whenever abuses are committed.