When it's all said and done, there will be an America before the killing of Renee Good and a different one after it.
Years down the line, when it’s all said and done, the killing of Renee Nicole Good will prove to be a watershed moment for this country. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you’re no doubt familiar with what happened: the 37-year-old woman was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross on Jan.
7 during an operation in Minneapolis. Good was sitting in her vehicle, which was parked on the street blocking traffic, when several federal agents approached her. As she tried to drive away, Ross fired at close range. The Trump administration wasted no time in vilifying Good, calling her a domestic terrorist who tried to run over the ICE agent. They defended Ross, saying he acted in self-defense because he “feared for his life” — the go-to justification of choice for America’s trigger-happy law enforcement officers — and claimed, without providing any evidence, that he suffered internal bleeding in his torso as a result of being run over. Rather than investigate Ross, the Department of Justice has chosen to look into Good’s partner's alleged ties to activist groups. The government’s account of events does not square up with what Americans saw. Good’s death was captured on film by several eyewitnesses, and clips of the incident instantly went viral. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 82% of respondents said they had seen the video of the shooting, and the majority of them said the killing was not justified. The New York Times and the Washington Post also conducted frame by frame analysis of the footage. Both outlets arrived at the same conclusion: the evidence contradicts the official narrative. Despite the growing unpopularity of his immigration policies — Trump is now underwater on an issue he used to dominate — the president has doubled down on the Twin Cities, flooding the region with 3,000 federal agents, a figure that significantly dwarfs the number of local police officers. Since Good’s death, there has been a barrage of horrific stories emerging from Minnesota. There’s the group of ICE agents who went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Wilmar, Minn., only to return after the establishment closed to arrest workers. There's the case of ChongLy “Scott” Thao, the grandfather of Hmong descent and a naturalized U.S. citizen with no criminal record who was taken at gunpoint from his St. Paul home in freezing weather wearing nothing but shorts, shoes and a bathrobe— agents eventually brought him back. The most recent outrage is the story of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy from Ecuador who was taken along with his father in their driveway after being picked up from preschool. According to Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik, ICE agents tried to use the child as bait to lure out his mother. The image of a scared Liam being held by an ICE agent who’s holding on to the child’s Spider-Man backpack struck a nerve and has gone viral on social media — this is purely anecdotal, but it seemed like just about every Instagram story on my feed was a post about that photograph. It’s worth noting that Liam Conejo Ramos was the fourth child attending a Columbia Heights Public School taken by ICE in the last week. At this point, it seems like more and more Americans are starting to realize that the barrage of immigration raids carried out across the country over the last year have never been about arresting dangerous criminals, but rather about purging as many immigrants from this country as possible. In the wake of Good’s death, they’ve also realized that having a U.S. passport won’t shield them from the violence. “ — particularly, let’s be honest, white Americans — might have thought themselves immune from ICE abuses,” New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote earlier this month. “The killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three and widow of a military veteran, tests that assumption.” In other words, if you don’t comply, you too could be treated like an immigrant. Minnesotans have not taken this siege lying down. They’ve shown up for their neighbors, much like people in Charlotte, N.C., Chicago and Los Angeles did before them. Good Midwesterners are delivering food to people afraid of leaving their homes. Trump’s heavy handedness in Minnesota has also galvanized religious leaders to join the front lines. “I’ve asked to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written,” the Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, told a crowd at a vigil for Renee Good shortly after her death. “Because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us — with our bodies — to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.” On Thursday, Religious News Service reported that more than 200 faith leaders had arrived in Minneapolis to serve as ICE lookouts. “I’m becoming radicalized,” the Rev. James Galasinski of Canton, N.Y., said. “I’m seeing our nation become more and more fascist before my eyes — I saw it. I saw it. I mean, demanding papers? I never thought I would live in a country like this.” As someone who has covered immigration for years, I’ve never seen such mass mobilization and resistance to immigration enforcement quite like this. Sadly, I don’t think any of this would’ve happened if Renee Good was still alive. I can’t yet tell if things will get better. Trump has repeatedly promised to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would allow him to send federal troops into the region. But there is a silver lining in not knowing what’s to come. Optimism is rooted in hope, in having faith that better things are going to happen. It’s vital for all of us that the future remains unwritten because in that unknowingness the chance to head down the right path remains a real possibility. Beginning next week, the Latinx Files will be written by staff reporter Carlos De Loera. That’s right, I’m passing on the torch. It’s been such a joy helming this newsletter for the last five years. When it launched in November 2020, the hope was to chronicle the ever-evolving Latino experience as much as possible. In that time, I got to write about our heroes and icons; about our history and our problematic relationship with colorism; about our dumb internet memes . It turns out that when writing about Latinos, you can pretty much write about any topic. I was also privileged to have this space to process the grief of losing my father to cancer — for this, I will be eternally grateful. Why the change, you ask? Simply put, my responsibilities have grown significantly over the last few years. In July 2023, several of my colleagues and I launched De Los, a new section of the L.A. Times that expanded on the mission of the Latinx Files to paint a more complete picture of who we are and what our place in this country is. In 2026, I’ll be even busier. While I can’t divulge anything specific, just know that it will be big and ambitious. Stay tuned in the coming months for more details, which will of course be announced here. But fret not! I’ll still be involved with the Latinx Files. I’ll be editing Carlos and helping him make this space truly his own. And I’ll periodically fill in for him here and there whenever he’s on vacation. To the longtime readers of the Latinx Files, thank you for your continued support. And for those of you who are new around here, welcome! I leave you in great hands. Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times. Immigration agent shoots at suspect during operation in South L.A.Judge is skeptical on ICE agents wearing masks; case could have national implicationsL.A. County moves to carve out ‘ICE-free’ zones following immigration raid violenceLawsuits against ICE agents would be allowed under proposed California lawDeported to danger: Returning migrants discover a Mexico transformed by cartelsEat and drink your greens. Start with these recipes and local spotsYour green juice is missing this prized Mexican ingredientFood Editor Daniel Hernandez’s recipe for tangy Mexican green juiceWagner Moura makes history as first Brazilian lead actor Oscar nominee‘American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez’ brings Chicano history to SundanceMaduro’s arrest made this Venezuelan song go viralZoe Saldaña becomes the highest-grossing actor of all timeGrammy Museum celebrates Selena with dazzling new exhibit
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