Eugene activists expressed grief and anger Wednesday after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jacob Griffin with Trans Alliance of Lane County was protesting in the early afternoon outside of Federal Building in downtown Eugene. He said the shooting made him sick.
“I have seen the video, and there’s just no excuse for what happened," he said. "That could have been any one of us here that come down here to protest. It could have been any citizen in Eugene.”
Eugene resident Kim Leval said she showed up on her lunchbreak to show that this is not the America she wants. She said she was heartbroken for the woman’s family.
“Coming down to protest was, in a way, honoring her life and the sacrifice that she probably wasn't—when she got up this morning—thinking that she was going to give,” said Leval.
Protester Will Bohl said he expected this to happen, as he said ICE agents are allowed to be masked, making it harder to hold them accountable.
"ICE as an agency has proven to be disregarding of any sort of lawful action," said Bohl. "They should not exist in our cities anymore. They should be out of Eugene, out of Oregon."
ICE officials have defended the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was in her car, as an act of self-defense. Some local leaders in Minnesota have strongly disputed that version of events.
In a video posted to X Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle—a Democrat from Springfield—admonished federal immigration officials for their response.
"We just had ICE apparently murder a legal observer," said Hoyle, "and the President and the head of DHS and Homeland Security are blatantly lying about what happened."
