Hundreds gather in Monterey to protest ICE shooting in Minneapolis; a protest in Salinas is planned.

On a chilly and windy Thursday afternoon, Jan. 8, about 200 people showed up at Window on the Bay park in Monterey to protest and mourn the death of Renee Nicole Good, 37, a U.S. citizen who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent the day before in Minneapolis.

“They're not protecting our rights. They're violating and stomping on our constitutional rights,” says Lisa Fimby-Dukart of Indivisible Monterey Bay, one of the groups that organized the event. 

Good was a legal observer trained to respond to ICE activity and document arrests and activity by ICE officers. She was a mother of three who recently moved to Minneapolis.

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance blamed Good for her death. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, said the ICE officer was defending himself and it was a response to “an act of domestic terrorism.”

Videos published in various media outlets show otherwise, with Good driving away from the ICE officer instead of trying to run over him. 

The local crowd gathered along Del Monte Avenue carrying signs with messages including "ICE murders, Noem lies,” “De-ice,” “Morons are governing America,” “Never again is now.” People from various cities, including Salinas, Marina, Seaside and Monterey, showed up to the event. 

At the rhythm of the drum, they also chanted “abolish ICE,” and “The people united, will never be divided.”

“This is ethnic cleansing. This is not only pulling people, separating families, but it is creating chaos in our communities,” says Ana Barrera, a teacher and Salinas resident who joined the protest.

Over the past year, more than 30 people have died in ICE custody and 2025 was the deadliest in more than two decades, according to reporting in The Guardian. 

“More people are starting to see that this is out of control,” says Fimby-Dukart, noting more people are getting involved in the local protest movement. “It's starting to hit home for a lot of other people too, so that's bringing more people in. People are saying, 'This is not what we want.'” 

After an hour, the crowd gathered to mourn and remember Good, holding candles and wearing white bands on their arms. 

Justin Loza, a Monterey resident and president of Chapter 46 of Veterans For Peace (a co-organizer of the event), says a series of recent events—deaths of people in ICE custody, Good’s killing and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s removal—have been concerning. “Trump just is abusing his power, left and right, and using the military as a prop to achieve these crazy objectives, which are imperialistic,” Loza says.

Some protesters people showed up wearing bright yellow vests with the words “legal observer” on them. Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Root Askew participated in the event. She is a legal observer herself and part of the local rapid response network that responds to reports of possible ICE activity. “I've gone to rapid response calls with my own son,” Root Askew says, noting that what happened to Good was too close to home. “The words don't come easily. 

“What crossed my mind was that this isn't our country. This isn't the country that my family fought [for],” Root Askew adds. 

Indivisible Salinas Valley is organizing a protest, under the banner “ICE out for good,” from 3-4:30pm on Sunday, Jan. 11 at the corner of East Blanco Road and South Main Street by the Star Market in Salinas.