FREMONT, Calif. — Carrying white roses and picket signs denouncing the Trump Administration, about 300 people assembled outside the courthouse here Jan. 11 to protest the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer.
Thousands took to the streets Jan. 10-11 in over 1,000 “ICE Out for Good” protests across the US. Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fired multiple rounds into her vehicle as she was driving away. The Trump Administration has labeled Good a “domestic terrorist” and said Ross acted in self defense. Multiple videos taken at the scene suggest Ross was in no danger.
In Fremont, as cars honked their support in the background, as the group of peaceful activists read out the names of 37 people killed by ICE officers or who died while in ICE detention. 2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in over 2 decades, noted the ACLU.
“I am here because Renee Nicole Good should be here still,” Fremont resident Nicole Giovando told American Community Media on the sidelines of the protest. “She was doing what we are all out here to do, which is protect our communities.”
“I am a mother and I refuse to live in a world where I am so afraid that I cannot act. And with that is why I’m out here. I am fearful for myself, but I take this as a great privilege to be able to stand out here regardless of my fear and represent the community that I am a part of,” said Giovando.
Local ICE Activity
Last November, ICE agents went knocking door by door in the Sundale neighborhood of Fremont, conducting immigration raids. Fremont Police Chief Sean Washington told local news media that FPD had been notified of the action, but did not cooperate with ice agents.
Fremont is a sanctuary city. More than half of its population is comprised of foreign-born immigrants, according to DataUSA. The suburban town, on the edge of the Silicon Valley, is home to the world’s largest number of Afghans, outside of Kabul.
Jen Uhlig told ACoM she had participated in local rapid response efforts as ICE was surveilling neighborhoods in the East Bay. “I admit that I have been nervous. However, I am more afraid of what happens if we don’t stand up at this moment and take action together as quickly as we can to squash what they’re doing and this fascist regime,” she said.
“I just don’t believe that ICE belongs in our communities. They’re the ones who’ve been terrorizing our citizens and our immigrants who make our country great,” said Uhlig. She spoke of efforts by several organizations to hold a day-long strike against ICE activity.
Through tears, Mary Kwon told ACoM that millions of people have come to the US in search of better lives for themselves and their families. “There has been such an ‘othering’ of immigrants,” said Kwon.
The longtime East Bay resident, whose parents are immigrants, held a sign naming all the people who had died in ICE detention last year. “So that’s why I’m here, to remember, and to be a part of a movement to try and find some way to make sure there’s some way to remember them and seek out justice.”
At the rally, former city councilman David Bonaccorsi read “For Nicole Good,” a new poem by poet laureate Amanda Gorman. He quoted Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh: “We will do our best to speak about injustice even when it harms us.”
Shamsa Rafay, of the New Haven United School Board of Trustees, convened an opening prayer. “We must acknowledge the pain of Renee Good’s loved ones. We must be united across faith and backgrounds in rejecting injustice in policing. And we must challenge a system that harms our neighbors,” said Rafay.
In an interview following the protest, Rafay told ACoM that — following ICE activity in Fremont last fall — many families are fearful of sending their children to school.
