Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta Renews Calls to Abolish ICE Following Fatal Minneapolis Shooting of Renee Nicole Good
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2026
CONTACT:
James Woo, Director of Communications, media@advancingjustice-atlanta.org
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Today, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta condemns the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis and demands the immediate withdrawal of ICE agents nationwide, and a complete abolishment of the agency.
Since January 2025, we have seen billions of taxpayer dollars funneled into ICE leading to a grossly militarized agency deployed and taking over U.S. cities, neighborhoods, schools and other areas once considered sacred. The effects have been devastating and felt deeply here in Georgia, where ICE officers are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta stands in solidarity with all those outraged at the murder of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of ICE and all those before her. If the loss of liberties were not enough, the loss of life must be enough to abolish ICE.
In a statement Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta Murtaza Khwaja said: “We can grieve and condemn ICE’s ever-increasing lawlessness but must also act to voice bold truths. Without a doubt, ICE must be abolished. ICE is not broken nor is it in need of reform, it is functioning exactly as designed: as a weapon of state violence born from the post-9/11 targeting of Muslim, Arab, and communities of color and increasingly clear indiscriminate brutality.”
Georgia is poised to be an epicenter of ICE presence and enforcement. In addition to ICE officers training at FLETC, the state already houses the Stewart Immigration Detention Center in Lumpkin and the recently expanded Folkston ICE Processing Center, with the Irwin County Detention Center now reopened for immigration enforcement. ICE is also seeking to convert warehouses in Social Circle and Jefferson into detention facilities, literally turning storage buildings into human cages.
Despite well-documented and notorious human rights abuses reaching local, state, national, and international platforms, ICE facilities are proliferating and last year was one of the deadliest in immigrant detention.
Immigration enforcement has proven to be deadly. Renee Nicole Good is at least the fifth person killed in the name of immigration enforcement over the past year. Even when not resulting in death, ICE terrorizes entire communities. The agency's militarized tactics send a chilling message to every immigrant, person of color, and concerned citizen. Georgia has witnessed this devastation firsthand—most recently in September's immigration raids at a Hyundai supplier and the LG Energy Solution plant in Ellabell, the largest workplace enforcement action in U.S. history, which tore through south Georgia communities and left lasting trauma across generations.
Khwaja adds:
“Immigration is an administrative matter involving people fleeing violence, violence often caused by American military and political intervention, in search of safety and dignity for their families. It should never involve militarized raids, armed agents, or lethal force. ICE does not serve communities; it shatters them. It does not protect families; it tears them apart. This agency exists solely to score political points built on division, hate, and the fear-mongering of demagogues.”
Jennifer Lee, Policy Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, said:
“It’s outrageous that Congress is currently negotiating directing even more government funding towards immigration detention, while at the same time Georgia families are struggling with high health care, housing and food costs. State and local policymakers should focus their attention and resources on addressing people’s basic needs and refuse attempts to create more ICE facilities in our state.”
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Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI), and other marginalized communities in Georgia and the Southeast.
