HOUSTON — Hundreds of demonstrators marched through Houston’s Galleria area Thursday evening to protest federal immigration policies, following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman, by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Protesters carried signs with slogans such as “fight ignorance not immigrants” and “stop ICE terrorism” as they marched along Post Oak Boulevard from Westheimer Road. Houston police officers monitored the crowd and controlled traffic, allowing the demonstration to proceed without immediate arrests.
“This could happen to any one of us at any point,” said Rachel Domond, one of the protest leaders. “It’s up to all of us to organize with our community, mobilize, and continue to stay in the streets to demand what we know is possible but that they don’t want to give us.”
The demonstration, organized by the local branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is part of a series of protests planned across Houston this weekend. Another rally by the group is scheduled for Saturday at Houston City Hall, while the immigration advocacy group FIEL Houston is planning a protest Friday evening.
Meanwhile, city and state officials held a prayer vigil Thursday evening to mark Good’s death. State Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston, called the incident “an injustice and a warning of what happens when fear replaces humanity, when force replaces reason, and when systems operate without accountability.”
State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said the incident reflects “a pattern of escalation of simply not caring that the people in front of their barrels are Americans exercising their rights under the Constitution.”
State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, highlighted a recent New York Times report showing the Houston area as one of the leading regions in ICE arrests, urging Americans to wake up and take action.
The protests and vigil underscore growing local and national outrage over the use of force by federal immigration authorities and the need for accountability in such incidents.