{"id":114574,"date":"2026-01-12T02:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/114574\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T02:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T02:02:15","slug":"hundreds-rally-at-orlando-city-hall-to-protest-ice-killing-renee-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/114574\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds rally at Orlando City Hall to protest ICE killing Renee Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ProtestersHundreds of protesters gathered outside Orlando City Hall on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, to protest ICE killing Minneapolis resident Renee Good. Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

A group of about 300 or so people peacefully rallied at Orlando City Hall on Sunday (with at least a couple dozen cops on standby) to denounce the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Good by a federal immigration enforcement agent last week, and to demand state and local governments end their collaboration with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rally in Orlando, organized by anti-Trump group Orlando 50501, was part of a coordinated weekend of peaceful protest actions and vigils across the U.S. in protest of the Trump administration\u2019s deadly mass deportation agenda. According to Time magazine, at least 1,000 anti-ICE demonstrations<\/a> across the U.S. happened over the weekend, from Orlando to New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Tuscon and the not-exactly-bright-blue Treasure Coast city<\/a> of Stuart, Florida.<\/p>\n

Protesters in Orlando held signs and banners that read \u201cICE agents are paid agitators,\u201d \u201cFuck ICE,\u201d \u201cICE Out 4 Good\u201d and \u201cPublic safety doesn\u2019t require body bags.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Renee Good was murdered, this was far from the only killing that ICE has done,\u201d said Corey Hill of Orlando 50501, speaking to a crowd gathered outside of Orlando City Hall early Sunday afternoon. \u201cThirty-two people were killed in ICE custody last year,\u201d he pointed out. According to The Guardian, 2025 was the deadliest year on record for ICE<\/a> in decades. At least six of the deaths in ICE custody last year occurred in Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are engaging in kidnapping and violence from coast to coast, using our money to brutalize our people,\u201d said Hill, who encouraged attendees to get plugged into local organizing work in solidarity with immigrant communities. \u201cThis is not a moment, this is a movement \u2026 Say it loud, say it clear: Immigrants are welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protest Sunday was spurred by the death of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last Wednesday in Minneapolis, just about a mile<\/a> from where George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020. Good was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and an award-winning poet<\/a>. Minneapolis leaders say she was serving as a legal observer of ICE activities when she encountered the agent who killed her, identified by media as Jonathan Ross.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Good had just dropped off her kid at school shortly before she was shot at multiple times by an ICE officer as she was fleeing the scene in her Honda Pilot, her dog in the backseat. The Trump administration has described her<\/a> as a \u201cdomestic terrorist,\u201d claiming she was trying to ram into agents with her car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here because our state keeps asking us to accept the unacceptable, because our leaders keep calling violence policy, because they keep saying, \u2018We\u2019re just complying,\u2019\u201d said Fi Gomez Jr., a LGBTQ+ immigrant justice organizer with the Apopka-based Hope CommUnity Center. \u201cBut let\u2019s be clear: Compliance with violence is still fucking violence,\u201d they said, earning roars of agreement from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompliance with violence is still fucking violence\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the state cooperates with systems that cage, disappear and brutalize our people, it\u2019s not neutrality, it\u2019s not just the law. It\u2019s complacency. And we are here to say no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida reportedly leads the nation in the number of agreements that the state and local governments have signed with ICE, including Orange County and Orlando. Orange County has a controversial agreement with ICE that county leaders say is mandated under state law that allows federal immigration enforcement to detain people in the Orange County Jail temporarily before sending them to a long-term detention facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s cost the county more than $300,000<\/a> since Trump took office, so far, since the federal government has failed to fully reimburse the county for the cost of jailing people accused of being in the country illegally. The Orlando Police Department also has an agreement<\/a> with ICE, allowing local police officers \u201climited immigration authority\u201d alongside their normal duties.<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Organizers of the rally in Orlando on Sunday are calling on state and local elected officials to end their collaboration with ICE. With the 60-day state legislative session beginning Tuesday, advocates are also calling on state lawmakers to pass legislation (SB 316<\/a>) that would prohibit ICE agents and other members of law enforcement from wearing masks during public immigration enforcement activities. It would also require them to wear visible identification.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposal, dubbed the \u201cVISIBLE Act,\u201d is sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando and Jacksonville Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon.<\/p>\n

The Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition, made up of more than 60 Central Florida legal aid and advocacy groups, put together a petition<\/a> through ActionNetwork with their call to action for elected officials to end agreements with ICE, distributed through the crowd on Sunday via a QR code.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the officials that can hear us today, history is watching you,\u201d said Gomez. \u201cYour silence is a decision, and \u2018I was just following orders\u2019 has never been an excuse that history forgives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sweeping\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe 34-page bill would presume certain non-citizens are at fault in car accidents, severely restrict their employment, and prevent Florida banks from loaning them money\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DeSantis\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe tribe is part of a lawsuit against Florida which claims \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d planners failed to follow federal environmental regulations\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Not\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTrump claimed the tribe worked against his immigration efforts, the basis he used to veto a flood protection project in the Florida Everglades\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\t