To Robert Engel, the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis is a stark reminder.
This immigration terror is a threat to everybody's safety, regardless of your documentation status,” said Engel, spokesperson for an emergency protest held Wednesday evening in downtown Seattle.
Roughly 300 people gathered at the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building to call for justice hours after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, in her Minneapolis neighborhood. She was shot to death as ICE agents surrounded her car early Wednesday, sparking national outrage.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the ICE agent shot in self-defense when the driver tried to run them over. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey disputed this, saying in a news release: “We've dreaded this moment since the early stages of this ICE presence in Minneapolis. This was a federal agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”
Mimi Hurt, 65, of Seattle, said ICE raids have gotten out of control. She came to protest to send a message.
“This just absolutely is not the country I used to love and was willing to die for,” she said. “That's what it means to be a citizen: If you're willing to die to protect the country. That's now a question mark.”
The shooting marks the latest turmoil surrounding the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants. Over the summer, Seattle saw protests outside the federal building in response to increased ICE raids.
After hearing speeches, as the crowd dwindled to about 100, protesters set small fires on the federal grounds: torching an American flag, then a battered piñata of a man wearing an ICE vest. Seattle police observed the rally from a distance, blocking off parts of Second Avenue when the attendees briefly marched into the street.
Police made no arrests and faced no issues, Sgt. Patrick Michaud said.
Ray Mitchell, a member of the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Washington, said many share responsibility for Good's death.
“So the people running this city, this state, maybe they'll issue a statement about how horrible this murder today was, but it's all for show,” Mitchell told the crowd. “They will not do anything unless we force them to. The blood today is not just on the hands of the officer who shot a woman dead, and it's not just on Donald Trump. It is on every single coward running this country who refuses to stand up for the people like they're supposed to do.”
Wednesday's event in Seattle was held by a coalition of Seattle-based activist organizations.
President Donald Trump said the woman "violently, willfully and viciously" ran over the ICE agent in a post to Truth Social. U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, called Trump's response "truly disgusting."
"This is lie after lie after lie from the President — a completely dishonest description of ICE shooting and killing a woman in Minneapolis," she wrote in a post to X.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the Department of Homeland Security is lying about the shooting and called for accountability.
"Conducting immigration enforcement doesn't mean you execute American citizens in the street," she wrote in a post. "Yet DHS is already lying about what we can all see with our own eyes. Since Kristi Noem won't, state governments everywhere will need to hold out-of-control federal agents accountable."
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also released a statement: “The shooting in Minneapolis today by an ICE agent is deeply disturbing. We cannot have federal agents killing people in our neighborhoods. There must be a full investigation and accountability.”
Clio Jensen, a member of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, told the crowd that Wednesday's protest is the first of many planned actions.
“If they are not backing down, neither should we,” Jensen said. “We must fight back as the Trump administration escalates their attacks on the undocumented and the immigrant rights movement.”
Several other emergency rallies were planned Wednesday evening in Western Washington, including at Tacoma City Hall.
In Seattle, the crowd held a giant banner that read: "Abolish ICE. They chanted: “No Justice, no peace! We want ICE off our streets!”
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
