On Jan. 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis through the windows of her vehicle. On Jan. 8, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents non-fatally shot Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras in Portland for allegedly striking a federal law enforcement vehicle, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Community members in Oregon and national lawmakers have voiced outrage over ICE and strongly condemned its activities since Good’s killing.
“That shooting was just shocking and to the benefit of the fact that there was video, we knew immediately the administration was lying about that situation,” Sen. Jeff Merkley says in an interview with Eugene Weekly. “This is just horrific,” he says of ICE. “They are being urged to be aggressive.”
Merkley says he’s been extremely concerned since ICE started detaining people in the street while wearing masks and not identifying themselves. “That’s more akin to fascism than it is to a democracy or a democratic republic.”
The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition estimates that at least 56 ICE detentions took place in Lane County from July 2025 to Jan. 1, 2026. Of those detained, only six are listed as of Jan. 14 on the Department of Homeland Security’s “worst of the worst” website, first reported by The Register-Guard. Several times, President Donald Trump has publicly stated that ICE is deporting the “worst of the worst,” and that undocumented “violent criminals” run free in the U.S. The statistics show differently.
“Being here undocumented is a misdemeanor,” Rep. Val Hoyle says of illegal entry to the U.S. “Not being able to work through a purposefully broken immigration system, that’s not the worst of the worst.”
So far, 34 people have died in ICE custody since Trump took office.
In Eugene, hundreds gathered at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza Jan. 8, then later marched to the downtown Federal Building to protest Good’s killing. Speakers took to the stage and urged actions against ICE like participating in ICE watch groups and attending protests. “We train and encourage people to do every day what she was doing: watching, monitoring, using her First Amendment rights to assemble and record ICE as they terrorize our community,” Rob Fisette, event organizer with the Lane County Immigrant Defense Network, said to the crowd. “We will not be intimidated by their violence.”
Merkley says he believes Trump is trying to recreate riots from his first term. “I urge people to not take the bait, and to protest with joy and whimsy,” he says. “That’s just what we have seen, and it has flummoxed the administration.” Merkley says he supports protests like No Kings and others that rely on non-violent campaigns to deprive the Trump administration of what it wants. “Don’t help them grow authoritarian power. We’ve got to save our republic.”
Patty Hine, a Navy veteran and co-president of climate justice organization 350 Eugene, said to the Jan. 8 crowd, “I took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That’s why I’m here today. Trump is domestic enemy number one.”
She encouraged protesters to “remove support for the pillars of the fascist regime” by boycotting and participating in strikes. “ICE is Trump’s personal Gestapo. They are invading our cities and terrorizing our communities.”
Fisette says PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union, is calling for a general strike on May 1 to “shut down and defeat this administration.”
Bob Bryant came to the Jan. 8 protest with his wife Rebecca Bryant because, “We’re disgusted by all the murderous authoritarian shit that’s going on right now, it’s terrible.” The Bryants say they saw the video of Good’s killing on the news and Facebook. “I’m a very emotional person and I bawled,” Rebecca Bryant says.
Immediately after Good’s killing, Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem defended Jonathan Ross, claiming the agent acted in self defense.
“It’s not the world I want my grandbaby to grow up in,” Rebecca Bryant says.
In an email to Eugene Weekly, Sen. Ron Wyden writes, “It’s painfully clear from the words and actions of Donald Trump, Stephen Miller and countless others in this administration that they view people who don’t look like them as less deserving of both respect and rights.”
Wyden adds that his office stays in constant contact with groups working to protect the rights of immigrants and is available “at any hour to any immigrant who needs help.”
Around 12:40 pm during the Jan. 8 protest which lasted approximately four hours, a smaller group of protesters approached the entrance of the Federal Building with signs and loudspeakers to protest DHS and ICE officers present in the building. Protesters erected a small memorial to Good made from sticks shaped in a heart with her photo in the center.
The crowd put their signs to the windows and shouted at federal officers to “come out and get us.” The officers donned riot gear and equipped themselves with pepper spray and tear gas. One officer was holding a shotgun, which protesters said they presumed to be a less-lethal device. The protesters outside remained peaceful, shouting and chanting.
The officers remained inside and eventually took off their riot equipment. The protesters continued to chant things like “I-C-E, E-P-D, K-K-K they’re all the same,” and “No justice, no peace! ICE off our streets!”
On Jan. 13, five DHS agents detained protester Ronald Guptill near the front entrance of the Federal Building. Guptill says he was walking past the building and saw the protest, so he joined. “I started questioning them about their attitude, their actions etc. They did not like when I asked them to identify themselves,” Guptill says.
He says the DHS agents left the building to arrest him because they saw a small leather utility holster on his right hip which they mistook for a firearm holster. He was later released with a citation after DHS officers confiscated a small pocket knife on his person.
At a Jan. 14 protest, four DHS officers exited the federal building during a protest and crossed East 7th Avenue to arrest a protester standing on the opposite side of the street. Kim Leval, a protester on scene says the DHS officers did not give a reason for why they detained the individual. According to Fisette, the protester was released an hour later.
Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson says the day after Good’s killing, she spoke with Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner and the independent police auditor about how to prevent the erosion of trust in local law enforcement due to federal actions.
“It’s important to me that people know that we have put systems in place locally to support transparency and accountability, because we are not seeing that at the federal level,” Knudson says. “Eugene is a safe place for immigrants. We love our community, and I want everyone in our community to be thinking about how we can support one another.”
This story has been updated.