This is an adapted excerpt from the Jan. 8 episode of “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”
Outcry over the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen who was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday, is reverberating around the country.
People everywhere are protesting against the killing of this young mother and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s tactics in general.
On Thursday in Asheville, North Carolina, more than 1,000 miles away from the city of Minneapolis, demonstrators turned out in droves to protest the Trump administration’s deadly approach to immigration enforcement.
In Cleveland, Ohio, folks showed up in big numbers with signs reading “Stop ICE” and “ICE out of our communities.” In Boston and New York City, hundreds marched and protested throughout the day — as did people in Durham, North Carolina; Louisville, Kentucky; Indianapolis; and Philadelphia.
People everywhere are protesting the killing of this young mother and the border and immigration agents’ tactics in general.
In Minneapolis, there have been sustained demonstrations, even as ICE officers continue to patrol the streets and the entire community grapples with the danger federal agents pose.
Neither the horror of the killing of that 37-year-old mother, nor frigid temperatures and icy streets, have stopped people from showing up in large, peaceful demonstrations to protest the cruelty and brutality of this administration.
Part of what is incredibly sick about all of this is that over the past year, Donald Trump has been promising that his crackdown on immigrants was going to somehow be good for everyone else — that the unending cruelty toward those vulnerable communities would make everyone else safer.
The opposite is true — and Good’s killing made that abundantly clear.
But the only thing Trump and his Cabinet know how to do is to continue demonizing immigrants, as well as anyone else who might question their reckless actions. And so they have spent the days since that shooting doubling down.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance spent 35 minutes during the White House briefing smearing Good’s reputation and continuing to defend the person who shot her, while attacking the press for simply asking the basic questions we all have after watching the video of her tragic death.
On Friday, the vice president reposted the new video of the horrific shooting of Good on social media. The only thing Trump and his Cabinet know how to do is to continue demonizing immigrants, as well as anyone else who might question their reckless actions. “Everybody who’s been repeating the lie that this is some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves,” Vance told reporters Thursday. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday was in New York City, where she doubled down, calling Good a domestic terrorist. But their tactics don’t appear to be working. Americans are making it clear to the administration that the gaslighting, offensive rhetoric and the policies behind it, have done nothing to achieve what Trump promised. The president’s immigration crackdown is making communities less safe and the officials working for the agencies he directs are making them less secure. Allison Detzel contributed.
Jen Psaki is the host of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" airing Tuesdays through Fridays at 9 p.m. EST. She is the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden. Recommended
