Last week’s shooting death of Renee Nicole Good by a federal agent in Minneapolis was deeply troubling, to say the least, for Katy resident Lisa Jasper.
On Saturday, Jasper joined about a hundred other protesters at an intersection facing the Katy Freeway, wearing stickers emblazoned with Good’s picture and holding signs that read, “It Was ICE Murder,” “Fight Truth Decay” and “Honk for Democracy.”
The crowd included people of all ages and walks of life who said they hoped to send a message that Immigration and Customs Enforcement isn’t welcome in Harris and Fort Bend counties. A protest sponsored by FIEL Houston was held on Dunlavy Bridge on Friday night, and other events are planned Sunday.
Jasper, 69, said the recent violence has been mentally exhausting for her friends and neighbors. She said she doesn’t feel like she has the option to sit still.
“If you are silent, you are complicit,” she said. “I called a senator and talked to his aide and told him we’re going to become a Nazi state. ICE has the freedom to cover their faces and shoot people. They’re thugs.”
Protesters on Saturday were met with many friendly honks and waves but also were on the receiving end of the occasional middle finger. One woman who drove past the protest shouted out her window, “I hope you all get deported!”
Good was born Colorado and was a U.S. citizen.
The 37-year-old was killed on January 7 when an ICE agent opened fire on the Honda Pilot she was driving. Video from the incident shows Good asking the officer to show his face and saying, “I’m not mad at you.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says Good tried to “weaponize her vehicle” to run over an officer. Protesters at Saturday’s event disputed that the shooting occurred in self-defense.
Good’s death is “part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against members of our communities,” officials with the ACLU, Indivisible, Voto Latino and Not Above the Law said in a press release promoting the “ICE Out for Good” movement.
The coalition of civil rights advocates said Saturday’s peaceful protests across the country were an effort to demand accountability and honor Good’s life.
Good was a mother of three who moved to Minneapolis last year. Her wife Rebecca Good issued a statement saying they “stopped to support our neighbors” when the shooting occurred.
CNN reported that tension escalated in the Twin Cities this week amid the deployment of “some 2,000 federal agents as part of the latest surge in the Trump administration’s nationwide immigration enforcement crackdown and following claims of welfare fraud in the Somali immigrant community.
Vice President JD Vance blamed the “far left” for attacks on law enforcement and said Good’s killing was “a tragedy of her own making.”
“If you just look at the eyewitness accounts, they were saying she was there to prevent the enforcement of the law, she was trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. That much is obviously clear,” Vance said.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also blamed the far left. The FBI is investigating Good’s death and is not sharing information with state authorities.
Protesters in Katy on Saturday called for an end of violence, citing not just Good’s death but the shootings of two people during a traffic stop in Portland, Oregon, on January 8. A border patrol agent said he shot the pair in self-defense after he was advised that they were associated with a Venezuelan gang. The man and woman are reportedly in stable condition in a hospital.
A woman named Anne said Saturday she’s “absolutely terrified by what’s happening in our country.”
“I’ve been terrified since the November 6 election,” she said. “In my opinion, [Trump] is mad because we didn’t elect him in 2020 and he’s trying to destroy the country.”
Protester Andrea Hart, a U.S. Air Force veteran, said ICE hasn’t had a strong presence in Katy because its residents tend to vote Republican. However, she said, it’s important to show up for those who can’t.
“I was talking to some people at Walgreens while I was getting a shot and they said they didn’t feel comfortable coming out,” Hart said. “I told them I’m a white woman who has some privilege and I’m of a certain age. I said, I’m going to do it for you. It doesn’t affect me personally but I’m affected because it affects our community.”
In September, ICE agents reportedly shot and killed Silverio Villegas González, a father and cook from Mexico living in Chicago. Protesters said Saturday that more than 30 people died in ICE detention last year.
Every person ICE has killed had a family, a community, and a life that mattered, said DaMareo Cooper, executive director of Popular Democracy, a nonprofit organization that “demands transformational change for Black, brown, and low-income communities.”
“Pouring billions of public dollars into a rogue enforcement agency that terrorizes our communities while denying people health care, housing, food security, and education is morally indefensible and profoundly reckless,” Cooper said. “This cruelty flows directly from the agenda of fear and punishment pushed by extremists.”
Elizabeth Baker brought her 10-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to the protest, saying she wanted them to know that it’s their First Amendment right to speak out against policies they don’t agree with. She also promised them lunch and a trip to the bookstore afterward.
“What happened in Minnesota made me sick,” Baker said. “My daughter was really nervous about coming out here and we had to talk about how I wouldn’t take her anywhere where I thought she’d be in danger. It’s scary.”
Marsha Kamish said she helped organize the event because people don’t know that democracy is in peril. An ICE shooting can happen to anyone, whether or not they’re documented, she said.
“I’m Jewish and I’ve seen the T-shirt that says, ‘If you wondered what you’d do in 1933 Germany, you’re doing it now.’ I’d be out here trying to save my relatives’ lives,” she said. “I was worried about the sign [that included profanity] but we can’t keep taking the high road. Look where that’s gotten us. You can’t play nice because they’re not playing nice. Not since Day One.”
High school sophomore Asher Courville said he attended the protest because he objects to people getting shot by ICE while they’re out dropping their kids off at school.
“I’m a leftist. I’m pretty adamant about that,” he said. “I read a lot of leftist literature. What JD Vance had to say is pretty textbook fascism. Using immigration status and skin color, let’s be honest, to separate people, is textbook fascism. I have Mexican friends at school but even if I didn’t, I’d be here anyway. I feel strongly about this. I’m a straight white dude, so it’s not about me. I just feel really strongly about it.”
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.