Written by Eric Maganda
Over the past year, many have criticised Trump’s mass deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US Border Patrol (USBP) agents in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and now Minneapolis. For the most part, the actions of immigration enforcement have been directed towards immigrants and people of color. This is unsurprising in a country with a long history of police brutalising Black and Brown communities. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, by contrast, have shown that state-sanctioned violence can also be directed towards white citizens. For those who have witnessed law enforcement act violently towards people of their complexion, they know that ICE’s violence is not the exception. It’s the rule.
Growing up in San Diego, a county bordering Mexico, I feared and continue to fear the presence of the USBP in my community. Ever since I was a kid, holding my mother’s hand as we walked to the store, I felt anxious when I noticed a white SUV with a green stripe. At any given second, they could take away my family members and friends as I helplessly watched. It truly feels like, as a famous Mexican song goes, living in a ‘jaula de oro’, a cage of gold. Having to constantly live with this fear and anxiety, I believe, is a form of violence. Today, in 2026, the situation has only worsened. Fear of deportation has become a fear of death and brutalisation.
On a Wednesday morning in Minneapolis, after an interaction that lasted only two minutes, ICE agent Jonathan Ross gunned down Renee Good. Fully demonstrating their cruelty, ICE agents repeatedly denied a nearby physician from checking on Good’s wellbeing. Attempting to justify ICE’s actions, three hours later, the Department of Homeland Security painted Good as a ‘violent’ rioter who intended to kill ICE agents, although multiple videos suggest Good attempted to flee. Understandably, many in the US and abroad were outraged by ICE’s use of violence.
Less than a month later, USBP agents pinned down Alex Pretti before agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez shot him ten times in the same city. Similarly, Trump officials began slandering Pretti by stating that he intended to kill officers, without any formal investigation. As evidence, they pointed to him having a gun at the time, a gun he had the legal right to carry. More importantly, at the time of his murder, the gun had been removed from his hip, meaning that they shot an unarmed man while multiple agents held him down. This too caused outrage.
Nearly six years ago, in the same city, a police officer killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. This is important to note because the way that immigration officers act is not dissimilar. The killings of Good and Pretti have made the US once again reckon with the problem of police brutality. To Black and Brown communities, this is nothing new. In 2021, while only making up around 13% of the population, Black Americans made up 27% of those shot dead by the police. Many people of color around me and myself have grown to feel that law enforcement was never meant to protect us. There are too many documented examples of police brutality to pick from. As it happened with Good, a short interaction can quickly turn deadly.
Conversation around excessive police violence has returned because it has made itself visible in major cities. Still, you cannot forget that state-sanctioned violence also exists in detention centers. In only the past month, six people have died while in ICE custody, and another was shot by an off-duty agent. Although ICE claims that the majority of deaths were due to health complications, this does not reflect reality. Such is the case of Geraldo Lunas Campo, who ICE claims committed suicide, despite a medical examiner ruling the cause of death a homicide. Unfortunately, just like other law enforcement agencies, it is incredibly hard to hold ICE agents responsible. In 2025, deaths in ICE custody rose to 32 people.
Opposition to ICE needs to be accompanied by a recognition of the racist policing and violent tactics of US law enforcement agencies. The violence that has now been directed towards White citizens has been historically present in communities of color. While agencies like the USBP have always acted cruelly towards migrants near the border, it is now being exported to major cities. I do not feel the need to try and humanise immigrants because I have already pleaded multiple times that my loved ones be seen as people who deserve dignity and respect, only for it to fall on deaf ears.
This issue does not start or end with Trump, although he has undoubtedly worsened it. Denouncing ICE and their tactics means denouncing all forms of state-sanctioned violence in the US and abroad. Observing this situation from the United Kingdom fills me with nothing but anxiety and shame. The best that I can do from here is bring attention to the gravity of this issue. I hope things get better, but the US has again shown itself to be shamelessly violent towards citizens and non-citizens alike. May Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and all the victims of police brutality rest in peace.
