Kelly Bellin, Socialist Alternative (ISA in the United States)
(This article was first published on 8 January 2026)
Just days into what’s being called the “largest immigration operation ever,” an ICE agent murdered a woman on the street in South Minneapolis in an interaction that’s been well-documented by outraged observers. The woman, Renee Nicole Good, was sitting in her vehicle, audibly waving ICE agents to pass her, when they approached her hostilely and tried to force open her door. An agent then shot her in the face as she tried to drive away, and she died as ICE blocked ambulances from reaching her. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem justified the ICE agent as acting in self-defense against an “act of domestic terrorism,” which video of the shooting reveals to be a clearly ridiculous charge. Trump doubled down on these claims and blamed the “radical left.”
The simmering outrage in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St Paul area) has broken the surface based on this horrific act of right-wing violence. Demonstrations have been ongoing since the murder, and more are being organized for the coming days, as well as across the country.
In the Twin Cities, we’ve been organizing against the ICE invasion through rapid response groups in our neighborhoods, escorts for particular vulnerable populations, direct actions such as protesting outside of hotels that are accommodating ICE agents, organizing in our unions, and mobilizing for demonstrations against ICE kidnappings. More fightback is needed, but through this we’ve seen mainstream media lament the tough conditions of fightback facing ICE in frigid Minnesota. No doubt the incredible surge of 2,000 federal agents deployed to the Twin Cities this week is in part a reaction to the resistance they’ve already faced.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has responded by telling ICE to “get the fuck out of Minneapolis.” But no amount of talking tough by Democratic politicians—not by California Governor Gavin Newsom nor by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker—has had the impact needed to decisively push back Trump’s racist terror campaign. To do that would require the organization of a mass movement capable of shutting the system down, which is a step too far for the Democratic Party.
Let’s turn our grief and anger into a mass struggle, channeling the anti-deportation movement to deal a decisive defeat to ICE. We can build a struggle that stops ICE from murdering anyone else, stops their entire kidnapping operation, and mounts a genuine mass movement that can fight for immigrant rights rather than being forced to react to right-wing terror. We need an offensive struggle to take down Trump’s reactionary, racist regime, which means attacking the capitalist system that spawned it.
We need:
- No neighbor left behind: Build rapid response networks and neighborhood groups.
- Mass, democratic conferences of resistance in every city, to plan out next steps in the fight against Trump and ICE. These conferences should organize mass protests and direct actions against ICE.
- Keep state terror out of our communities! Build for maximum non-cooperation with ICE through union resolutions, petitions in our schools and workplaces, and community campaigns. Workers should refuse to cooperate with ICE operations and should disrupt their terror tactics.
- These steps can build up toward a coordinated one-day strike against ICE’s reign of terror, drawing inspiration from the “Day Without an Immigrant” mass strike action in 2006 that shut down business as usual.
- Link up the struggles! For unions and fighting campaigns to defend our immigrant coworkers and neighbors while struggling for quality health care, jobs, education, and housing, paid for with taxes on the rich and corporations.
- The Democrats won’t save us: We need a new party to fight Trump and ICE! Genuine working-class representatives would now be building the struggle against Trump and ICE in the streets. They could be leading with real action like total eviction moratoriums to protect families from ICE, and stimulus payments to families who’ve had a primary earner detained. Words aren’t enough. If they won’t fight for us, we won’t vote for them.
