Queer Cafe

Fighting Back Against ICE
Bernie Sanders: Blasting ICE
New Jersey Gov: Resisting ICE

Tim Walz: Outrage Over Shooting of Alex Pretti
Outrage in Minnesota: ICE Killings
ABC News: Fatal Shooting of an American Citizen
ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans

NPR: ICE Tactics Growing More Violent
George W Bush on Immigration

Remembering Renee Good and Alex Pretti

Mourning victims of ICE violence in Minneapolis

Renée Nicole Macklin Good (1988-2026) was a 37-year-old US citizen. She was a writer and poet who lived in Minneapolis with her partner and a six-year-old child from her second marriage. Originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado, she graduated with a degree in English from Old Dominion University. She had worked for a dental office and a credit union and served on the school board. According to a neighbor, Good had previously lived in Kansas City, Missouri, before relocating to Canada along with her partner and family. Later, she moved to Minneapolis. Good had been married twice. She and her first husband were married from 2009 to 2016 and had two children. She and her second husband had a single child. He died in 2023 at the age of 36.

Alex Jeffrey Pretti (1988-2026) was a 37-year-old intensive care nurse and US citizen who lived in Minneapolis. Pretti was born in Chicago to a family with northern Italian ancestry. He grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and was a member of the Green Bay Boy Choir and a boy scout. He graduated from the public Preble High School in 2006. He then attended the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, where he received a bachelor's degree with a major in biology, society and environment in 2011. Pretti was hired in 2014 as a research assistant in the clinical research program at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital. He had been a registered nurse in Minnesota since 2021. At the time of his death, Pretti held an active nursing license and was an intensive care nurse at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis.

Protesting ICE in Seattle
Bernie Sanders: ICE is Trump's Domestic Army
James Talarico: Criticizing ICE
Protester Comments

Josh Johnson: Legal and Moral
Protesting ICE Funding
Gov Tim Walz: Kristi Noem is Incompetent and Cruel
James Talarico: Hopeful

Pete Buttigieg: Critique of ICE and Kritsti Noem
Protests in Minneapolis

BBC: Fatal Shooting of Alex Pretti by Federal Agents in Minneapolis

ICE Kills Alex Pretti

"This does not look like a justified shooting"

Alex Jeffrey Pretti was a 37 year old ICU nurse at the Veterans Hospital in Minneapolis who was an observer on the streets as ICE agents were mobilizing for another operation. Pretti was filming, directing traffic, and offering protection.

An ICE officer, Evan Kilgore, walks toward Pretti and several other bystanders, and pushes a woman to the ground. Pretti moves between the agent and the woman. The agent sprays Pretti with a chemical irritant and drags him to his knees.

At least six other agents quickly gather, with officers standing over Pretti and pushing him to the ground as he appears to resist them, leading to a scrum on the street.

At least four different videos of the encounter — filmed by eyewitnesses and verified and analyzed by news outlets — show a violent attack by ICE agents that is not consistent with the administration’s description of events. At no point in any of the videos can Pretti be seen wielding a weapon. He is seen carrying a cellphone while filming.

“From what I see right now, this does not look like a justified shooting,” said Charles Ramsey, a former police commissioner, who reviewed the videos. “The guy is lying prone on the sidewalk and they’re still firing rounds into him.”

James Talarico: Be Like Alex Pretti
Lawrence O'Donnell: Unjustified Murder of Alex Pretti
ICE Murders Alex Pretti
Alex Pretti Killed by ICE Officers
Video: Murder in the Street

Amanda Gorman: For Alex Jeffrey Pretti
Song for Alex Pretti

ICE Kidnaps Liam Conejo Ramos

Detaining a preschooler...

As if the murder of Renee Nicole Good wasn't enough, we are now learning of yet another inhumane atrocity committed by ICE agents in Minnesota...
Liam Conejo Ramos was taken away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after coming home from preschool last Tuesday in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights.

Does this little boy look like a "violent criminal?" Does he appear to be the "worst of the worse?"

Bundled up in his tiny plaid coat and blue knit bunny hat, 5-year-old Liam stared ahead with a blank look as agents huddled around him before bringing him into federal custody with his father.

In the driveway of their home in suburban Minneapolis, a masked federal agent held the handle of the boy’s Spiderman backpack as he got into a black SUV, and later, on a plane with his father to a family detention facility in Texas. What exactly led Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take Liam and his dad, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, more than 1,300 miles from home remains in dispute.

But the boy’s plight – and his now uncertain future – sparked renewed outrage over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown, which has also ensnared children. Liam is now the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by ICE in just the past two weeks.
His family entered the US legally, attorney says, but DHS calls the father an illegal alien. Liam and his family are originally from Ecuador and presented themselves to border officers in Texas in 2024 to apply for asylum, said the family’s lawyer.

“These are not illegal aliens,” the lawyer said. “They were following all the established protocols, pursuing their claim for asylum, showing up for their court hearings, and posed no safety, no flight risk and never should have been detained.” Liam’s father does not appear to have a criminal record in Minnesota.

Luis Conejo held back tears as he talked about his outrage at seeing the images showing how immigration agents took his brother Adrian and his nephew Liam. He described his brother as “very hardworking” and said he works in masonry, painting jobs and repairs of various kinds.

5-Year-Old Boy Taken by ICE in Minneapolis Being Held With Father at Texas Facility
Young Boy Taken Into Custody by ICE Has Active Immigration Case, Preventing Deportation
Witnesses Begged ICE Agents Not to Detain Minnesota 5-Year-Old After Father's Arrest

ICE Kills Renee Nicole Good

Her death was unprovoked and unjustified

Renee Good was a 37 year old woman who was a US citizen and local resident. She was identified as a single mother of a 6 year old son whose father recently died. Her mother said that Good was not part of the protests, that she was just a legal observer. “Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” Community members and local officials described her as a beloved Minnesotan and a caring presence in her neighborhood and activist circles.

Her death was unprovoked and unjustified. The ICE officer (Jonathan Ross) over-reacted, exercised poor judgment, and applied excessive and unnecessary force. Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem immediately began sowing disinformation about the incident. They are defending their actions and lying about the details.

About Renee Good

Thoughts on the ICE Shooting Incident

Renee Nicole Good Murdered by ICE Officer

Who was Renee Nicole Good?

The Trump Regime is Lying to the American People

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
–George Orwell, 1984

Wake up. It is happening right now in America. The Trump Regime is openly and blatantly lying to the citizens while attempting to justify their inexcusable violence against innocent people.

Just like in George Orwell's dystopian stories, the regime is intentionally trying to deceive the public with lies and disinformation. They are distorting reality so they can continue with their vicious and reckless deportation campaign. To cover their crimes, they are rewriting the narrative, mischaracterizing the details, and dictating to their gullible followers their new version of the truth.

As the regime breaks laws, tramples rights, and obstructs justice, they want citizens to deny what they saw with their own eyes and to reject what they heard with their own ears. They want the American public to ignore the truth and believe the lie. And this is not the first time the Trump regime has lied about the truth of an event. The violent actions of the protestors who attacked the capitol on January 6 were shamelessly reinterpreted and sanitized by Trump to defy what the American public saw in real time with their own eyes.

Josh Johnson: Legal and Moral
Protesting ICE Funding

Fighting Back Against ICE

James Talarico: Be Like Alex Pretti
Lawrence O'Donnell: Unjustified Murder of Alex Pretti

Tim Walz: Moral Dilemma
Rep Melanie Stansbury: Comments on ICE Killings

ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans

John Stewart: ICE Killings
Dehumanizing the Victim

Gov Tim Walz: Kristi Noem is Incompetent and Cruel

George W Bush on Immigration

Moreover, in pursuit of their propaganda efforts, and to further justify their violence, they are attacking the good character of their victims. They are lying about decent, innocent people. They are defaming, vilifying, and smearing their good name. They want you to believe these people deserved to be killed in cold blood.

Trump, Vance, Noem, and Rubio are maliciously denigrating and disparaging Renee Good and Alex Pretti. It must be made clear that Good and Pretti were innocent of any crime. Neither one of them had a criminal background. Neither one of them posed any threat to the ICE officers who murdered them.

The American people must stand up for Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They must defend their innocence and their reputation and preserve their memory as upstanding citizens. They must insist on the truth surrounding their senseless murders and aggressively reject the lies of the regime.
It is time for the good people of America to unite in its resistance to Trump, Vance, Noem, Rubio, and the entire cabinet of liars. It is time to put a stop to their deceit and violence. It is time to arrest them and make them accountable for their crimes. It is time to remove them from office.

[Source: QC Commentary, January 2026]

ICE Out Now

Tim Walz: Outrage Over Shooting of Alex Pretti
Outrage in Minnesota: ICE Killings
ABC News: Fatal Shooting of an American Citizen
ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans

NPR: ICE Tactics Growing More Violent
Protester Comments

James Talarico: Hopeful

James Talarico: Be Like Alex Pretti
Lawrence O'Donnell: Unjustified Murder of Alex Pretti

Protests in Minneapolis

ICE is Trump's Gestapo

Don't let them gaslight you into believing that you didn't witness a murder...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers serve as the regime’s Gestapo force, cracking down not only on undocumented residents, but also on any dissenters of the government’s propaganda.

Chief officials of the regime, including Trump, JD Vance, Kristi Noem, and Kash Patel, have libeled slain protester Renee Nicole Good of Minneapolis as a “domestic terrorist,” a “violent rioter,” and a “professional agitator.” They argued that she “weaponized” her vehicle to run over an officer, even when on-site videos do not confirm this and before any in-depth investigation has been conducted.

Good’s death makes it clear what people of color have always understood: Any one of us could be next. Whiteness will not save white people as they once might have believed.

The press briefings have become nonsensical. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s daily White House briefings are filled with lies. In July, she declared, “President Trump is a humanitarian with a big heart.” Cue the laughter.

[Source: Dr Warren J Blumenfeld, LGBTQ Nation, January 2026]

ICE Out Now

Josh Johnson: Legal and Moral
Protesting ICE Funding

Fighting Back Against ICE

Tim Walz: Outrage Over Shooting of Alex Pretti
Outrage in Minnesota: ICE Killings
ABC News: Fatal Shooting of an American Citizen

ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans

NPR: ICE Tactics Growing More Violent
Protester Comments

James Talarico: Hopeful

Gov Tim Walz: Kristi Noem is Incompetent and Cruel

Protests in Minneapolis

Amanda Gorman: For Alex Jeffrey Pretti

Increased Violence by ICE Officers

Escalating Clashes on City Streets

Based on reports from 2025 and early 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has engaged in intensified and increasingly violent enforcement operations, leading to 2025 being described as one of the deadliest in the agency's history. These actions are characterized by larger-scale worksite raids, increased use of force, and high-profile incidents in cities like Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Here is a summary of the violent activities and related, escalating clashes:

Intensified Enforcement Tactics

High-Volume Arrests and Tactics: ICE has adopted a "shock and awe" approach, with 2025 marking a shift toward aggressive, large-scale raids on workplaces (such as a 475-person arrest at a Georgia construction site) and residential areas.

Use of Force: Reports indicate an increase in force, including the use of tear gas, stun grenades, and weapons by agents. In 2025, there were at least 16 incidents where ICE agents fired weapons during operations.

Fatalities and Injuries: 2025 marked the highest number of deaths in ICE custody in two decades. Notably, in January 2026, an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis.

Collateral Damage: Raids have resulted in the detention of US citizens and individuals with no criminal records, with reports estimating over 170 U.S. citizens were detained in 2025.

ICE Out Now

Tim Walz: Outrage Over Shooting of Alex Pretti
Outrage in Minnesota: ICE Killings
ABC News: Fatal Shooting of an American Citizen

ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans

NPR: ICE Tactics Growing More Violent
Protester Comments

James Talarico: Hopeful

James Talarico: Be Like Alex Pretti
Lawrence O'Donnell: Unjustified Murder of Alex Pretti

Protests in Minneapolis

George W Bush on Immigration

Clashes and Escalation

Violent Resistance: ICE reported a 1,300% (???) increase in assaults against their officers from Jan 2025 to Jan 2026, including alleged vehicular attacks, stabbing, and gunfire, which they attribute to rhetoric from "sanctuary" politicians.

Protester Clashes: Demonstrations against these raids have, according to ICE, frequently turned violent, with incidents of protesters hurling molotov cocktails, rocks, and bottles at police and federal agents.

Surge in Federal Presence: The administration deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement, including Marines, to assist in operations in cities like Los Angeles, creating further, volatile friction with local authorities.

Impact on Communities

Climate of Fear: The aggressive tactics have created a "climate of fear," causing many immigrants to avoid necessary services like healthcare and schooling.

Targeting of Observers: Reports have emerged of agents using unnecessarily extreme force against bystanders, journalists, and legal observers who film or document the raids.

Detention Conditions: With 2025 arrests soaring, detention facilities have experienced severe overcrowding and reports of poor, unsafe conditions, leading to a high death toll.

Here is a list of individuals killed by ICE agents in 2025:

NPR: ICE Tactics Growing More Violent

James Talarico: Be Like Alex Pretti
Lawrence O'Donnell: Unjustified Murder of Alex Pretti

ICE Immigration Tactics Shock Americans
List of Deaths in ICE Detention
Minneapolis Pastor Detained by ICE
Chicago Pastor Shot in Head with Pepper Ball by ICE
ICE Violence in Chicago
ICE Attacks Clergy in Chicago

George W Bush on Immigration

Amanda Gorman: For Alex Jeffrey Pretti

ICE Kills Renee Nicole Good

The cold-blooded murder of Renee Nicole Good

January 2026... Thousands of people have taken to the streets of south Minneapolis (and across the country) to protest the cold-blooded murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent. Several politicians, community leaders, and LGBTQ officials, are denouncing the Trump administration's claim that the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good was somehow justified.

Eyewitnesses said that Good was in her car when three ICE agents aggressively approached her yelling profanities. As she tried to drive away, one of the agents (Jonathan Ross) fired three shots into her car, making direct hits to her face. She bled to death on the scene as agents delayed medical assistance. She was unarmed.

ICE Shooting Update

Thoughts on the ICE Shooting Incident
Minneapolis Woman Shot and Killed by ICE Officer

About Renee Good

Male Rage
Renee Nicole Good Murdered by ICE Officer

Who was Renee Nicole Good?

Commentary on ICE Shooting

Reflections of Renee Nicole Good
Protests in Minneapolis

Wife of Minneapolis Woman Killed by ICE Speaks Out
Dehumanizing the Victim
Voice of Protester
LGBTQ Officials Denounce ICE Killing of Minneapolis Woman

Good was a 37 year old woman who was a US citizen and local resident. She was identified as a single mother of a 6 year old son whose father recently died. Her mother said that Good was not part of the protests, that she was just a legal observer. “Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” she said. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.” Community members and local officials described her as a beloved Minnesotan and a caring presence in her neighborhood and activist circles.

Her death was unprovoked and unjustified. The ICE officer (Jonathan Ross) over-reacted, exercised poor judgment, and applied excessive and unnecessary force. Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem immediately began sowing disinformation about the incident. They are defending their actions and lying about the details.

ICE Shooting Update

Minneapolis Woman Shot and Killed by ICE Officer

ICE Agent Shoots Renee Good
Statement from Wife of Renee Good

Thoughts on the ICE Shooting Incident

About Renee Good
LGBTQ Officials Denounce ICE Killing of Minneapolis Woman

Vigil for Renee Nicole Good Becomes a Call to Action Against ICE
Protesting ICE Shooting

Insight into the Shooting of Renee Good by ICE
About the ICE Shooter

About Renee Nicole Good

In addition to being a mother and a respected member of the community, Renee Nicole Good was a queer woman. Her wife Rebecca Brown Good was in the passenger seat and their dog was in the back seat when ICE agents shot and killed her. Her wife was seen screaming, covered in blood, hugging Good’s dead body after the car crashed. They were two women in a relationship. The glove compartment was full of their 6-year-old son’s favorite stuffed animals. One witness was trying to comfort her while she was crying “that’s my wife... I don’t know what to do."

After two previous marriages to men, Renee came out later in life as queer. At the time of her murder, Renee was married to Rebecca. They were raising three children and running a small household repair and maintenance business.

Renee Nicole Good was many things... a wife, mother, poet, singer, devoted Christian, and "extremely compassionate" human being. But she was not a "domestic terrorist," as DHS Secretary Noem described her. Nor was she any threat to the officers on the scene.

Good, was identified by her mother, Donna Ganger, who said that her daughter lived in south Minneapolis with her partner and was not involved in protests or any activity confronting ICE agents. While Donald Trump fallaciously calls her a "professional agitator," Good's loved ones are mourning a "loving, forgiving, and affectionate" mother of three who loved writing and was not particularly politically active.

Good had three children — a 15-year-old and 12-year-old from her first marriage, and a 6-year-old from her second marriage to Timmy Ray Macklin Jr, who recently died. She was returning from dropping her youngest off at school when ICE agents shot and killed her.

Reflections on Renee Nicole Good

About Renee Good

Thoughts on the ICE Shooting Incident

Male Rage

Renee Nicole Good Murdered by ICE Officer

Who was Renee Nicole Good?

LGBTQ Officials Denounce ICE Killing of Minneapolis Woman

Wife of Minneapolis Woman Killed by ICE Speaks Out
Commentary on ICE Shooting

Protester Comments
James Talarico: Hopeful

A video of her wife Rebecca has been circulating on social media showing a distraught woman mourning Good at the scene of her killing. In another video, she can be seen leaning over a bloodied body in the driver’s seat of the SUV. “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do. We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible behind her. “We have a 6-year-old at school. We’re new here."

Good was a US citizen born in Colorado, but previously lived with her wife Rebecca in Kansas City, Missouri before moving to Minnesota last year. She previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union, her ex-husband said, but had recently become a stay-at-home mom. Good described herself in her Instagram bio, which featured an LGBTQ Pride flag, as a “poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN.”

Good's ex-husband said that she was a devoted Christian who had taken part in mission trips to Northern Ireland in her youth and participated in a choir during high school. Her love of singing would lead her to study vocal performance in college, though writing was her ultimate passion.

Good graduated in December 2020 from Old Dominion University in Virginia with a degree in English, and won an award the same year for one of her works. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband before his death. While the DHS has labeled Good's actions as "domestic terrorism," multiple videos from the incident contradict their claims. Testimonies from Good's loved ones also dispute that she was an activist, let alone a terrorist.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe account for Good's wife and children reached over $600,000 in the 24 hours since her death.

[Source: Advocate Magazine, January 2026]

LGBTQ Officials Denounce ICE Killing of Minneapolis Woman

Minneapolis Woman Shot and Killed by ICE Officer

LGBTQ Officials Denounce ICE Killing of Minneapolis Woman

Gov Tim Walz: Kristi Noem is Incompetent and Cruel