ICE escalates war on civilian accountability

[marmar]

ICE escalates war on civilian accountability
Critics say federal agents are following a playbook to give themselves an excuse to react violently

By Nicholas Liu
Reporter
Published January 17, 2026 6:30AM (EST)


(Salon) The suddenness, scale and violence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids over the last year have prompted neighborhoods and volunteers to either record raids in progress or preemptively stand guard near areas where raids might take place, such as schools with immigrant children. This accountability led to the numerous videos that captured the moment when ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week, sparking a nationwide outpouring of anger and grief.

Good had been monitoring an elementary school as students were being dropped off before Ross stepped in front of her vehicle and shot her. Human and civil rights advocates who spoke to Salon have called this a classic example of law enforcement foisting on their victim a “deadly dilemma,” forcing the person to appear as aggressive or insubordinate and giving agents an excuse to react violently.

Before Good’s death, other civilians across the country who were recording or watching ICE had been threatened, physically assaulted and arrested, amplifying the sense among critics that ICE officers, the broader law enforcement establishment and the Trump administration view themselves as above the law and capable of getting away with it.

Nevertheless, critics say that ICE, Customs and Border Protection and other institutions have followed a similar playbook used by police states, maintaining the thinnest pretexts to justify their behavior in a way that gives, in theory, plausible deniability, and signals to critics that they’re too powerful to need a perfect alibi. ....................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/17/ice-escalates-war-on-civilian-accountability/

[SSJVegeta]

1. Perhaps states should start turning these civilian observers into an actual armed police force

…or they should start gearing up on their own and ready to fight when confronted. Kevlar helmet and vests aren’t the hardest thing to buy online. And obvs we live in America so the being-armed thing isn’t so tough either.

[TommyT139]

2. Archive link

https://archive.ph/AHCVz

[nilram]

3. "Good had been monitoring an elementary school" ? Really, Salon?

"Good had been monitoring an elementary school as students were being dropped off before Ross stepped in front of her vehicle and shot her."

Every other story I've read says that she had just dropped her 6-year-old at school and was returning home. The location (Portland Ave South between East 34th and East 33rd Streets) was not at all in a line of site of a school.

Does Salon have a different agenda than telling the truth?

True, she was on the board of the school, and was involved with a monitoring group. The Salon implication is that she was actively monitoring ICE during the encounter and it rubs me the wrong way. Really wonder about the bias of the author and Salon.

[pat_k]

4. Anyone reporting should view the NYTimes analysis before they talk out of their asses.

The NYTimes synced up various videos and added frame-by-frame analysis of Renee Good's murder.

I don't know the events that led her to be where she was, but it is crystal clear that the moment the felon in chief claims Agent Ross was hit by Good's SUV is actually the moment his cell phone flies out of his hand and hits something with a thud. The agent was not hit, even though he had placed himself dangerously close to the car. Intentional? I think yes. No proof of course, but I think he was determined to make an utterly non-threatening situation appear dangerous. And he got out of his vehicle, filming with his cell phone, to record the "attack."

And, WHY is he filming with a cell phone? Get a fucking body camera like legitimate law enforcement.

Even if he had placed himself in the path of the vehicle, shooting her just would have guaranteed that he would be hit. Shooting her wouldn't stop the vehicle's motion. That, to me, by definition, refutes any claim of self-defense.

And after shooting her twice, he exhibits his professionalism by saying "fucking bitch."

This is so horrific, enraging, and tragic. I feel nauseous.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTl9m8IDRtg/

One question. It was my understanding that there was an agent yelling at her to MOVE -- an order the preceded and conflicted with the "get out of the car" order. I'm not seeing that in this analysis. Was that false? Or is there another video that shows that?