PHOTO ESSAY | Hundreds Attend Seattle Vigil Honoring Minneapolis Mother Shot and Killed by ICE Agent

Chants of "Wake up, America" and "Out ICE" rose from the crowd of close to 500 people who attended a Jan. 8 vigil at Pier 58 honoring Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis mother of three shot and killed the previous day by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. 

Candles illuminated a memorial altar that honored Good as well as several other people who were either killed by or died after an interaction with an ICE agent. Good was a poet, and one of her poems was read at the vigil, where several people spoke about the necessity of protecting the community and resisting ICE.

Bruce Patt and Kate Marrone, a married couple, said they needed to be at the vigil. Bruce said it was important "to be physically present for events like this because the more people that are here, it's going to register with more people how angry we are and how wrong these shootings were." 

Kate said that for her, this was the last straw. "This thing in Minneapolis [on Jan. 7], it just broke me. I watched that ICE guy just walk off: He's not in custody, he's wandering free." They both hoped the shooting and Good's death would galvanize more people to get involved.

Good was killed by an ICE agent while she was in her car, an act captured on cellphone video by numerous bystanders. The incident has led to massive anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis, which President Trump has targeted for heightened federal immigration enforcement. Trump administration officials have claimed that Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, used her car as a weapon against immigration officials and that the ICE agent shot her as an act of self-defense. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said video footage showed the federal government's interpretation was "garbage."

Nationwide, and particularly in cities led by Democratic politicians, actions by federal immigration and border agents have led to rising tensions. On Jan. 8, the day following Good's death, a Customs and Border Protection agent shot and injured two people in Portland. The same day, three people in North Seattle were detained by masked ICE agents in an unmarked vehicle. "It is unacceptable to kidnap people who are simply going about their lives," Mayor Katie Wilson said. "There is no place for it in Seattle." 

At the vigil at Pier 58, Erin Rants said she was disgusted by the speed at which Good was immediately labeled a terrorist by the Trump administration. Rants came out to the vigil to honor Good. "It's terrifying that someone can be murdered in cold blood, and the president's representatives are saying right off the bat that she was a terrorist," said Rants. 

Gloria, who came from Kent with her family and only gave her first name, pointed to a sign that read "So many steps towards fascism so little sign." She said she feels people aren't doing enough. "ICE equals Gestapo," she said. "It's looking a little too much like Nazi Germany." She said that by being at the vigil, she and her family were doing something in the face of rising fascism.