Peaceful protesters congregated Sunday afternoon in downtown Lawrence to denounce American immigration policy, prior to and during the Trump administration, in the wake of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shooting a woman in Minneapolis.

ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Minneapolis woman Renee Good, 37, after stopping her in her SUV Wednesday. 

The shooting sparked outcry against ICE’s exaggerated presence in cities throughout America, as well as the current administration’s deportation campaign. Lawrence joined more than 1,000 protests taking place nationwide this weekend.

Sanctuary Alliance, an organization focused on supporting immigrants in the community, galvanized folks in the area to rally at Ninth and Massachusetts streets Sunday. Locals have hosted weekly pro-democracy protests at that intersection for almost a year now. 

As cars honked their horns in support, protesters carried on chants like, “Hey, ho, I-C-E has got to go,” and “We want justice, we want rights, we want ICE out of sight.” Attendees carried signs that sang to the same tune, or that called for reform of Trump’s administration more broadly.

A massive crowd, blooming out from Ninth toward 10th and 11th streets, had already formed by the time organizers started giving speeches at noon.

Mariel Ferreiro, with Sanctuary Alliance, addressed the crowd first.

She compared the shooting of Good to what she called a long and intentional history of state-sanctioned violence, existing even before the current administration. She referenced George Floyd and Breonna Taylor; genocides in places like Sudan, Congo and Palestine; and violence in the Global South.

“If this is the first time you have seen yourself reflected in the murder of Renee, I ask you this: Feel this in your body,” Ferreiro said, referencing that Good was a white woman. “Metabolize and process the grief, the rage, the anger, confusion and uncertainty.”

She said they did not call the demonstration purely to hold signs and chant.

“Now is the time for action,” she said. “And the harrowing truth is no one is coming to save us. “Not our city and county officials, not state electives, not Democrats … (they) will not seek justice and change, so we must.”

Macey Webb read a statement from Somos Lawrence in Spanish, followed by an English reading by Umut Bayramoglu in English. Somos Lawrence is a grassroots project supporting non-English speakers, particularly Spanish speakers, in the community.

“Today, it’s our turn to express our solidarity with you and the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens who, like the beautiful Renee Good, are willing to raise their voices and even risk their lives in defense, not only of our communities, but the constitutional rights dying with every Renee assassinated by security forces with impunity, and every José deported without the right to be heard,” Bayramoglu said.

Although attendance at Sunday’s protest likely outnumbered any of the regular Sunday rallies that have happened at Ninth and Mass in the past year, Vincent, a protester in attendance, would have liked to see more folks present.

“We should be flooding the street,” Vincent said. “… Our rights are being taken away, like, there should be just as many people showing support as they do for the KU Phog. Your Phog should be here right now.”

Protesters Alex and Ashley live in Lawrence, and Alex is originally from Guatemala. Alex felt it was important to acknowledge what ICE is doing to people in other states, even in local discussions. 

“They can start thinking about it, like, it’s not the right thing to do to other people, no matter who is that person,” Alex said.

Ashley agreed.

“We do have a lot of immigrants in our community, and it’s important to stand up,” Ashley said. “… Trump has been horrendous, right? And so we already live in a time where immigrants feel unsafe or uncertain about going out in the community, so I think it’s important to come out with other folks and say we’re not OK with this … ICE is not welcome here.”

Anita Hoffman, also from Lawrence, attended the protest with her dog, Stella, who wore a sign eulogizing Good. Hoffman said she attended the protest to show solidarity and compassion for “a life that was taken so ignorantly.”

Hoffman, too, felt that conversations about Good and ICE should be ongoing everywhere.

“Our children are watching us,” Hoffman said. “We lead by example, and too many are OK with senseless killing. That’s really what it was. So I think everybody should be having this conversation in a healthy, peaceful way.”

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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