• Over a thousand demonstrations planned; ‘Noise protest’ staged outside Minneapolis hotel; dozens arrested
• Fresh video clip shows ICE agent cursing; White House continues to defend federal agent
• Local authorities open their own criminal inquiry; Mayor slams exclusion of local oversight

MINNEAPOLIS: Protests across the United States intensify over the weekend with more than a thousand demonstrations planned in the wake of the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, as local officials slammed federal agencies for locking them out of the investigation.

Tensions have reached a boiling point as civil society organisations and advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are planning hundreds of protests for Saturday and Sunday after the killing of motorist Renee Good, 37, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Wednesday.

Cell phone footage, apparently recorded by the officer who fired the fatal shots, shows him interacting with Good as he approaches and circles her car.

“I’m not mad at you,” Good says in the recording.

After the officer passes in front of the car, another agent is heard ordering Good to exit the vehicle. As she tries to drive off, shots ring out. The agent filming the video can be heard saying “f–– b––” at the end of the clip.

The White House insisted the video gave weight to the officer’s claim of self-defence, even though the clip fails to show the moment the car moved away or the moment the officer opened fire.

Public outrage

Demonstrations continued on Friday with throngs of demonstrators staging a “noise protest” outside a Minneapolis hotel believed to be lodging a visiting contingent of ICE agents.

Video posted by activists on social media showed protesters, some wearing brightly coloured inflatable costumes, creating a din by beating on drums, banging pots and pans, yelling through bullhorns and blowing on brass instruments and whistles. Others directed high-power flashlight beams at the hotel’s windows. The crowd thinned after yellow-vested state police in riot gear marched into the area and declared an unlawful assembly.

Twenty-nine people were arrested overnight as police responded to protests in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey said at a press conference on Saturday.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said one police officer was injured during the protest response.

Federal-state tensions

Minnesota officials stated that local investigators were initially invited by the FBI to participate in the inquiry but were subsequently blocked.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, condemned the federal exclusion of local oversight during a briefing on Friday.

Frey noted that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension consistently handles such investigations.

“We know that they’ve already determined much of the investigation,” Frey said. “Why not include them in the process?”

Minnesota and Hennepin County law enforcement authorities also opened their own criminal inquiry of the incident separate from a federal investigation led by the FBI.

Local prosecutor Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney unveiled an online evidence portal, calling for submissions to compile all available leads independent of federal interference.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2026