LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Back-to-back demonstrations criticizing the fatal shooting of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an immigration action in Minneapolis are planned for Thursday morning outside the downtown Federal Building.
At 9 a.m., a coalition of civil rights activists led by Najee Ali will call for the arrest of the officer who fired the shots Wednesday that killed 37-year-old Renee Good.
A demonstration to “denounce” the shooting is set for 10 a.m. It is organized by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE Justice) which bills itself as bringing “together clergy and lay leaders of all faiths with the marginalized, the unheard, and the least protected — low-wage workers and immigrants — in strategic campaigns for dignity, justice, and a more sacred and just society.”
Around 80 people gathered at Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday night to demonstrate against ICE, according to the Daily News. Organizers called for the officer who shot Good to be charged with murder, the Daily News reported.
Some participants carried signs reading “Stop ICE terror now!” and “ICE out of our communities,” according to the Daily News.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called for an immediate investigation into the shooting.
“Oversight Democrats are demanding answers on what happened,” Garcia wrote on social media.
Rep. Derek Tran, D-Garden Grove, called Good’s killing, “a profound failure of justice and a grotesque violation of the values we claim to uphold.”
“I am sickened, though tragically no longer surprised, by this display of lethal incompetence,” Tran said in a statement. “Under this administration, we have seen a consistent, disturbing pattern: the escalation of force.
“This has nothing to do with the rule of law and everything to do with a culture of cruelty that threatens our communities rather than keeping us safe.”
State Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, said “It is long past time for ICE to withdraw from every city in this country.”
“ICE is carrying out violent and warrantless armed raids in our neighborhoods, using aggressive tactics, and spreading fear that follows entire families,” Durazo said in a statement. “None of this makes our communities safer.”
Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale, a vice chair of the California Legislative Latino Caucus, said in a statement, “When incidents like this occur, they underscore the urgent need for transparency and oversight, because when enforcement turns violent, no one is safe.”
Federal officials said an ICE agent shot and killed Good in self- defense, and they accused her of trying to use her vehicle to run over law enforcement officers. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the shooting “was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”
“We will pursue justice — and we will do so as quickly as possible,” Frey said in an afternoon news conference.
Assemblymember Mark González, D-Los Angeles, issued a profanity-filled statement, calling the claim that Good used her vehicle as a weapon “a cowardly lie meant to justify a cold, reckless … disgusting abuse of power and a complete disregard for human life.
“The fatal shooting of Renee was a public execution, not self- defense,” González said.
President Donald Trump wrote on social media, “I have just viewed the clip of the event which took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a horrible thing to watch. The woman screaming was, obviously, a professional agitator, and the woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.
“Based on the attached clip, it is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital. The situation is being studied, in its entirety, but the reason these incidents are happening is because the Radical Left is threatening, assaulting, and targeting our Law Enforcement Officers and ICE Agents on a daily basis.
“They are just trying to do the job of MAKING AMERICA SAFE. We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!”
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