ICE protests took place from Minnesota to California
Days after the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, nationwide protests called on ICE to leave their communities.
Officials in the city of Portland, Oregon, announced that a police officer has been reassigned pending an investigation into comments made regarding the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Portland Police Chief Robert Day acknowledged that the department was “aware” of an unidentified police officer who said “sometimes criminals get shot” about Good, the 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by immigration officer Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
“The charges are under review and the officer was reassigned to other duties during that review,” Day said.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson described Good’s death as “tragic and avoidable” and called it “a horrific example of the same chaos and violence that federal overreach has brought to Portland.”
The day after Goode’s death, federal agents shot and killed two people in Portland, one of the few Democratic-led cities to which President Donald Trump sent in the National Guard in 2025.
President Trump said in late December that he would abandon efforts in Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Wilson said Portlanders “are standing up against a reckless and escalating federal government” and “need to know that local leaders and law enforcement are on their side.”
“I have full confidence in Chief Day and the Portland Police Bureau to review this incident, determine next steps, and continue to set the nation’s leading standards for transparent and responsible community policing and use of force training,” Wilson said.
What the video shows
A 90-second video uploaded to TikTok shows an unidentified officer wearing a helmet and an “Oregon Police Department” vest interacting with bystanders.
“Renee Nicole Good, would you shoot her too?” a woman can be heard asking.
“What if she drove her car towards me? Yes,” the officer responded.
The woman continued to call the police officer a “racist,” during which the officer said, “Criminals are sometimes shot.”
The other woman responded using abusive language toward the officer, who was prompted to repeat her statement.
He added that criminals will “absolutely” be shot if they “break the law” by endangering law enforcement. There are differing views on whether Ms. Good was doing so when she was shot, and if authorities pursue charges against Ross, the ICE officer who shot her, they will have to be proven in court.
The Portland police officer reiterated that he would have shot Ms. Good “if she had driven her car toward me.”
A bystander then asks if they would like to serve anything else.
“You are now the representative of PPB (Portland Police Bureau),” the woman says.
Government employers can restrict speech for 24 hours.
The First Amendment applies to government agencies, including city police departments.
However, the government can limit what employees can say during official business hours without violating their constitutional rights.
“Tensions are high right now,” Day said, adding that “it’s affecting all of us,” including police and civilians.
“Our goal is to maintain the trust of the community and ensure that the members of the Bureau always represent the professional standards that everyone deserves,” Day said. “As we navigate these difficult times in the coming days and weeks, it remains imperative that we all seek steady and respectful communication that supports safety and lawful protest.”
Breanna Frank is USA TODAY’s First Amendment reporter. please contact her bjfrank@usatoday.com.
USA TODAY’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by the Freedom Forum in collaboration with our journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
