Phoenix City Councilmember Anna Hernandez speaks at a vigil for Renee Good, a woman killed by ICE in Minneapolis on Jan. 7., 2026.
Morgan Fischer
It was uncommonly rainy and cool Wednesday evening when more than 120 people packed a strip of sidewalk along Central Avenue in midtown Phoenix. For months, that spot — right outside the field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — has been a common protest site to push back against the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
Beyond the moisture, the air felt different on Wednesday night. Eight hours earlier, and more than 1,600 miles northeast in Minneapolis, an ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in her car in the middle of a snowy residential street. Renee Nicole Good’s killing was captured on video, sparking outrage across the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed Good for her own death, claiming that the agent fired “defensive shots” after she attempted to ram the agent with her car. Video captured by bystanders tells a different story, showing that Good was steering away from the agent when he fired three times, hitting her at least once in the face. Jacob Frey, the mayor of Minneapolis, called Noem’s self-defense claim “bullshit.”
The pack of people who gathered outside the Phoenix field office on Wednesday said basically the same thing. The tightly packed group, led by several of Arizona’s top immigration activist organizations, crowded the sidewalk in Phoenix to pay their respects to Good and call for action. Longtime immigration activist Raquel Terán outlined three demands: that a full and detailed investigation be conducted, all officers involved be brought to justice and ICE get out of “our states now,” she said into a microphone to the crowd.
“She was a mother. She was a daughter. She was a neighbor. She was a friend to the people of Minneapolis,” Terán said. “We are with the Minneapolis community.”
Attendees, bundled up in jackets, raincoats and hats, held lit thin white candles while others held small tea lights or protest signs attached to yardsticks. Signs read, “From Phoenix to Minneapolis, STOP ICE TERROR,” “ICE out of PHX” on the Sun’s logo or simply, “FUCK ICE.”
More than 100 people attended a vigil for ICE shooting victim Renee Good on Jan. 7, 2026.
The crowd was packed with elected officials, including state Rep. Lorena Austin, Phoenix City Councilmember Anna Hernandez, state Sen. Catherine Miranda and local school board members Signa Oliver and Ed Hermes. It was also a who’s who of local immigration and progressive activists, including Sal Reza, Common Defense’s Ricardo Reyes, Kai Newkirk and Borderland Initiative’s Beth Strano, among others.
Melissa Heger, a 33-year-old from Laveen, came out to the vigil with her husband, Brian, after watching the brutal video of Good’s slaying. She was at her office on Wednesday afternoon when a coworker told her that ICE “shot a woman in the face,” Heger recalled. “We’ve been so desensitized. It was three minutes before a call, and I was like, ‘Holy shit,’ and then I was like, ‘I gotta get on this call.’”
Heger continued with her workday and didn’t watch the video until later, but when she did, she quickly texted her husband. “I felt rage,” she told Phoenix New Times. “What kind of world are we living in where this is happening? Where is it happening in broad daylight? It was just unbelievable.”
The couple decided to attend the vigil as a way to cope with the community, rather than staying inside and scrolling through social media and watching the news on the couch.
“What’s next in the fascist playbook? Because it’s really scary,” Heger said. “We’re not accepting it. This is not the world that I’m creating.”
The news of Good’s death comes as organizers, elected officials and the immigrant community are gearing up for an influx of immigration activity in Phoenix amid reports that ICE will be targeting the metro area next for enforcement and detention activity. Chants of “ICE out of Phoenix” echoed toward the ICE facility behind the group.
“I want to send a clear message to Trump and his fascist goons,” Phoenix City Councilmember Anna Hernandez said during the vigil. “Fuck ICE. Stay the fuck out of Phoenix. You are not welcome here.”
Another vigil for Good will be held at the ICE field office on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.