On January 7, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old writer and poet, was fatally shot three times by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A day earlier, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had announced what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, sending 2,000 agents to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area.
According to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and United States Representative Ilhan Omar, Good was acting as a legal observer of ICE’s activities at the time of her encounter with Ross. But Good’s ex-husband said that she had dropped her son off at school and was on her way home with her partner “when they came upon a group of ICE agents.”
Good was in her SUV, stopped sideways in the street when Ross drove his SUV around her car. He stopped ahead of her, began recording video, and stepped out with his face covered. Ross recorded Good’s face and rear license plate. Good stated: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.”
Good’s partner, Becca Good, standing behind their SUV, told the agent: “Hey, show your face, Big Boy. Show your face. That’s OK. We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. This will be the same plate when you come talk to us later. That’s fine. US citizen, former fucking veteran, disabled veteran.”
Other agents approached, and one repeatedly yelled, “Get out of the fucking car!” as he reached through her open window.
Renee Good
Ross moved to the front-left of the vehicle as Good briefly reversed, then began driving into the direction of traffic while turning away from Ross. While remaining upright, Ross fired three shots, killing her: one through the windshield, then two through the open driver’s side window from the side of her vehicle as it passed him.
He later drove away from the scene.
The SUV continued down the street until crashing into a parked car and light pole. An agent’s voice captured on Ross’ body camera shouted, “Fucking bitch!”
Some have speculated that Good died because she and her partner had refused to show fear or even anger toward Ross, and this may have enraged him.
Those who lust for power over others demand deference, if not subservience. And when it’s not forthcoming, they can only respond with violence.
This is best illustrated in a work of fiction: The 1996 historical novel, The Friends of Pancho Villa, by James Carlos Blake.
The book depicts the Mexican Revolution (1910 – 1920) and its most famous revolutionary, Francisco “Pancho” Villa. It’s told from the viewpoint of Rodolfo Fierro, Villa’s most feared executioner. In one day, for example, Fierro—using two revolvers—executed 300 captured Federale soldiers.
As in history, Blake’s Fierro presides over the execution of David Berlanga, a journalist who had dared criticize the often loutish behavior of Villa’s men.
On Villa’s command, Fierro approaches Berlanga in a Mexico City restaurant and orders: “Come with me.”
Standing against a barracks wall, Berlanga lights a cigar and requests permission to finish it. He then proceeds to smoke it with such a steady hand that its unbroken ash extends almost four inches.
The cigar finished, the ash still unbroken, Berlanga drops the butt to the ground and says calmly: “I’m ready.”
Then the assembled firing squad does its work.
Later, Fierro is so shaken by Berlanga’s sheer fearlessness that he seeks an explanation for it. Sitting in a cantina, he lights a cigar and tries to duplicate Berlanga’s four-inch length.
But the best he can do is less than three inches. He concludes that Berlanga used a trick—but he can’t figure it out.
Rodolfo Fierro
It had to be a trick, Fierro insists, because, if it wasn’t, there were only two other explanations for such a calm demeanor in the face of impending death.
The first was insanity. But Fierro rules this out: He had studied Berlanga’s eyes and found no madness there.
That leaves only one other explanation (other than a trick): Sheer courage.
And Fierro can’t accept this, either—because it’s disturbing.
“The power of men like me does not come solely from our ability to kill….No, the true source of our power is so obvious it sometimes goes unnoticed for what it is: Our power comes from other men’s lack of courage.
“There is even less courage in this world than there is talent for killing. Men like me rule because most men are faint of heart in the shadow of death.
“But a man brave enough to control his fear of being killed, control it so well that no tremor reaches his fingers and no sign shows in his eyes…well. Such a man cannot be ruled, he can only be killed.”
* * * * *
Throughout his life, Donald Trump has relied on intimidation to gain his ends. And his private police-army, ICE, well understands the power of fear it holds over most people.
What he, and they, cannot understand—and truly fear—is that some people cannot be frightened. They can only be killed.
People like Renee Good.
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WHAT ICE MOST FEARS
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on January 20, 2026 at 12:11 amOn January 7, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old writer and poet, was fatally shot three times by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A day earlier, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had announced what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, sending 2,000 agents to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area.
According to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and United States Representative Ilhan Omar, Good was acting as a legal observer of ICE’s activities at the time of her encounter with Ross. But Good’s ex-husband said that she had dropped her son off at school and was on her way home with her partner “when they came upon a group of ICE agents.”
Good was in her SUV, stopped sideways in the street when Ross drove his SUV around her car. He stopped ahead of her, began recording video, and stepped out with his face covered. Ross recorded Good’s face and rear license plate. Good stated: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.”
Good’s partner, Becca Good, standing behind their SUV, told the agent: “Hey, show your face, Big Boy. Show your face. That’s OK. We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. This will be the same plate when you come talk to us later. That’s fine. US citizen, former fucking veteran, disabled veteran.”
Other agents approached, and one repeatedly yelled, “Get out of the fucking car!” as he reached through her open window.
Renee Good
Ross moved to the front-left of the vehicle as Good briefly reversed, then began driving into the direction of traffic while turning away from Ross. While remaining upright, Ross fired three shots, killing her: one through the windshield, then two through the open driver’s side window from the side of her vehicle as it passed him.
He later drove away from the scene.
The SUV continued down the street until crashing into a parked car and light pole. An agent’s voice captured on Ross’ body camera shouted, “Fucking bitch!”
Some have speculated that Good died because she and her partner had refused to show fear or even anger toward Ross, and this may have enraged him.
Those who lust for power over others demand deference, if not subservience. And when it’s not forthcoming, they can only respond with violence.
This is best illustrated in a work of fiction: The 1996 historical novel, The Friends of Pancho Villa, by James Carlos Blake.
The book depicts the Mexican Revolution (1910 – 1920) and its most famous revolutionary, Francisco “Pancho” Villa. It’s told from the viewpoint of Rodolfo Fierro, Villa’s most feared executioner. In one day, for example, Fierro—using two revolvers—executed 300 captured Federale soldiers.
As in history, Blake’s Fierro presides over the execution of David Berlanga, a journalist who had dared criticize the often loutish behavior of Villa’s men.
On Villa’s command, Fierro approaches Berlanga in a Mexico City restaurant and orders: “Come with me.”
Standing against a barracks wall, Berlanga lights a cigar and requests permission to finish it. He then proceeds to smoke it with such a steady hand that its unbroken ash extends almost four inches.
The cigar finished, the ash still unbroken, Berlanga drops the butt to the ground and says calmly: “I’m ready.”
Then the assembled firing squad does its work.
Later, Fierro is so shaken by Berlanga’s sheer fearlessness that he seeks an explanation for it. Sitting in a cantina, he lights a cigar and tries to duplicate Berlanga’s four-inch length.
But the best he can do is less than three inches. He concludes that Berlanga used a trick—but he can’t figure it out.
Rodolfo Fierro
It had to be a trick, Fierro insists, because, if it wasn’t, there were only two other explanations for such a calm demeanor in the face of impending death.
The first was insanity. But Fierro rules this out: He had studied Berlanga’s eyes and found no madness there.
That leaves only one other explanation (other than a trick): Sheer courage.
And Fierro can’t accept this, either—because it’s disturbing.
“The power of men like me does not come solely from our ability to kill….No, the true source of our power is so obvious it sometimes goes unnoticed for what it is: Our power comes from other men’s lack of courage.
“There is even less courage in this world than there is talent for killing. Men like me rule because most men are faint of heart in the shadow of death.
“But a man brave enough to control his fear of being killed, control it so well that no tremor reaches his fingers and no sign shows in his eyes…well. Such a man cannot be ruled, he can only be killed.”
* * * * *
Throughout his life, Donald Trump has relied on intimidation to gain his ends. And his private police-army, ICE, well understands the power of fear it holds over most people.
What he, and they, cannot understand—and truly fear—is that some people cannot be frightened. They can only be killed.
People like Renee Good.
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