OPINION | ICE Killed Renee Good — and the Deaths Didn't Start There

On Jan. 7, 2026, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers for protesting the harm and violence inflicted on her immigrant neighbors. This tragedy is not an isolated event; the Trump administration has been killing and disappearing people of color long before this tragedy came to light.

As a formerly undocumented immigrant, a woman of color, an immigration lawyer for 10 years, and a clinical law professor, I thought I understood pain and despair. However, nothing in my personal or professional experience prepared me for the reckoning that this administration is inflicting on my community.

Take, for example, the case of a client of mine, a 31-year-old man who died in 2025. My law students and I fought relentlessly for his opportunity to secure asylum in the United States. Having survived years of persecution and torture by his home government and months of detention by the U.S. government at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, he fought as hard as he could. Despite having a legally sound and compelling case, it was summarily denied. His fight was lost before it even started. The immigration judge, a former ICE attorney, prioritized legitimizing a violent and punitive legal system, rather than existing legal precedent. The judge did exactly what the Trump administration has demanded of the immigration system: detain for profit, deny meritorious claims, and deport mercilessly.

After being deported to his home country, he went into hiding from his persecutors, embraced his children, and kissed his wife one last time. The following day, he committed suicide, unable to withstand what the U.S. government had done to him. His young family will live forever with the consequences of a death caused by the Trump administration's policies and the immigration laws currently in effect.

Make no mistake: The Trump administration is responsible for my client's suicide. Kristi Noem is responsible for his death and for the deaths of many others persecuted and detained by the various agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. My client's case is not unique. It is not an anomaly; it has become increasingly common under the most racist and violent legal system in the United States.

Trump's "mass deportation" agenda has drawn significant media attention. Actions in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and now Minnesota have exposed the war-like tactics Noem and Gregory Bovino have unleashed against communities of color. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the humanity and suffering of those who have been on the receiving end of Trump's militarized harm and cruelty long before January 2026.

It has been barely a year since this administration took office — and the deadliest for immigrants. Human rights organizations have documented the abuse and violence that result from the U.S. immigration system. Although ICE underreports the deaths of immigrants under its custody, independent nonprofit organizations report that 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025. This is the highest number of deaths reported by ICE since 2004. And while 32 deaths are too many, the loss for families and loved ones is simply immeasurable. These families will never be made whole again.

Not enough attention is brought to the government-sanctioned disappearances happening every day throughout the entire nation — a particularly egregious trend utilized by Trump's immigration law enforcement agencies. Take the example of Vicente Ventura Aguilar, who is yet to be found after being arrested by masked ICE agents in Los Angeles on Oct. 7–8, 2025. Based on witness accounts and available information, Ventura's lawyer and family fear he died in government custody, while DHS denies their allegations.

Those who support the Trump administration's extermination of immigrants of color, or who haven't witnessed what I have, will claim that this administration is only "targeting the worst and most dangerous criminals." That is simply not true. DHS's own data reports almost 97% of people detained for an immigration violation have never been convicted of a criminal offense, yet they are deported in violation of due process. Even if the administration's claim was true, the immigration system is a civil — not criminal — legal system, yet people are routinely punished, dehumanized, and tortured by the immigration system with impunity.

Why was the violence and tyranny of Trump's America not exposed sooner? And what is our moral duty during these dark times? This administration is succeeding in the systematic erasure of people of color. These atrocities must be named and shouted from every rooftop, because what we do not name does not exist, and silence creates complicity. Now that you know, what will you do to fight these injustices?

This op-ed reflects the author's personal views and is written in her personal capacity, not on behalf of any client, firm, or organization.

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Georgina Olazcon Mozo is the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Washington, an immigration lawyer, and a longtime South Seattle resident.