Norris R. McDonald | Renee Good, ICE, and American caricature of human justice

Renee Nicole Good, a mother tragically killed during an encounter with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, symbolises the violent, dehumanising practices that define America’s immigration enforcement system.

Shot at close range, Renee’s life was extinguished in an instant — another body added to a growing list of victims of state power killed without compassion.

Renee was not an activist or a public figure. She was an ordinary mother, a poet, a citizen caught in yet another violent ICE rampage on American streets. Her death is not an isolated event. It echoes a larger pattern of police violence in which over 1,000 black persons and other minorities, including documented and undocumented migrants, are reportedly killed each year by police.

THE LEGACY OF TRUMP’S ‘TUFF MAN’ POLITICS

Over the years, ICE has been linked to dozens of deaths in detention, along with reports of physical abuse, neglect, and psychological trauma. These are not aberrations; they are symptoms of a police-state machinery designed to intimidate rather than protect.

My friends, the rise of Donald Trump’s ‘Tuff Man’ politics represents a broader trend in the US government — a shift towards authoritarianism, grounded in fear. Under Trump, law and order became secondary to control and intimidation. This brutal logic has come to define ICE’s enforcement strategies, with human life increasingly seen as expendable.

God-King Trump’s rise to power — and his vindictive, fear-driven governance — represents a grotesque parody of democracy. Under his leadership, the US has witnessed the corrosion of its democratic institutions and the dismantling of human-rights protections.

One could imagine in God-King Trump, the bumbling, buffoonish character, Sir John Falstaff from Shakespeare’s plays, stumbling from the pages of history into the Oval Office — hollowed out by excess and contemptuous of fairness and decency.

ICE, IMMIGRANTS AND AMERICAN RACIAL CAPITALISM

Trump weaponised racial fear to justify his crackdown on immigration, casting immigrants as threats to the “American identity”. His rhetoric stokes racial anxiety among white Americans as he portrays immigrants — whether documented or undocumented — as criminals, parasites, and dangers to the US society.

However, the facts contradict this narrative. Studies, including a 2020 Cato Institute report, show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than their native-born counterparts.

The immigration debate is not about public safety — it’s about power. The fearmongering pushed by Trump’s administration was never about protecting the American public; it was about justifying a crackdown on immigrants in the name of control and exclusion.

ICE does not merely patrol borders; it polices labour. Immigrant workers, especially those without documentation, live in a state of constant fear. This fear keeps them vulnerable, often accepting wages below the poverty line, while simultaneously subsidising billionaires and corporations.

In this sense, the violence against immigrants is not just a matter of law enforcement — it is integral to the functioning of ‘American racial capitalism’. ICE is an enforcement arm of a system that exploits immigrant labour, while denying them basic rights.

THE ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF IMMIGRANTS

Despite being demonised, though, immigrants contribute significantly to the US economy. Whether documented or undocumented, immigrants account for over $2 trillion annually in GDP, representing 17-18% of the total economic output. They also pay billions in taxes, despite being ineligible to claim many of the benefits they fund.

Undocumented workers alone contribute:

• $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes;

• $27 billion in social security contributions;

• $6.4 billion in Medicare and health insurance deductions.

These contributions help sustain the US economy, yet immigrants are treated as expendable, hunted by an enforcement regime that thrives on fear and violence.

A CARICATURE OF HUMAN JUSTICE

The fearmongering is not just about borders; it’s about racial and economic control. Immigrants are cast as criminals to justify policies that strip them of their rights.

This is not merely a political crisis — it’s a moral one, eroding the core principles of democracy, fairness and justice which is boasted about as being at the very heart of ‘American exceptionalism.’

In a true liberal democracy, the state should protect human rights and uphold social justice. Citizens expect the government to safeguard their well-being and rights. But under Trump’s America, this is no longer the case.

PUBLIC PUSHBACK AND A PATH TO CHANGE

Recent public opinion polls however show that a significant majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s immigration crackdown and ICE’s unchecked violence.

This growing dissent is beginning to have political consequences, as seen in recent elections where traditionally conservative areas — such as Miami — have elected Democratic leaders, signalling a shift in political allegiances.

The 2026 midterm elections could mark the beginning of a larger pushback against this authoritarian agenda. Though the battle is far from over, public resistance is building, and the days of unchallenged ICE brutality may soon be numbered.

RENEE NICOLE GOOD – A CALL FOR JUSTICE

My dear friends, Renee Nicole Good never knew that, despite being a white woman, she would become a victim of the unaccountable lawlessness that ICE has unleashed on American streets. But now that the lights have gone out, darkness reigns on the streets she once walked. Yet, in our eyes, hearts, and minds, we cannot allow fear to triumph.

Her final moments were tragic, but they have sparked a deeper call for justice. As her spirit fled, we imagine her thoughts:

“ In these quiet moments, look! My blood flows,

Then, my limp body, slows, it slows –

God, take me away from all this, please—

From this soullessness,

Callous heartlessness!”

These words echo the pain of countless others who have been lost to the violence of a system that values control over compassion, power over humanity. Renee’s death is not just a story — it is a symbol of the deep, systemic injustice that must be confronted and eradicated.

This is the stark reality of America’s immigration enforcement, one that continues to cost lives and erode the values that America claims to uphold, and imposes on the world, by imperialist military might, as we recently saw in Venezuela.

That is the bitta truth!

Norris R. McDonald is an author, economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to: columns@gleanerjm.com, miaminorris@yahoo.com.