Photos: Hundreds Gather at Fountain Square for ICE Protest

Hundreds of people gathered Downtown Thursday to protest the shooting death of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. 

The shooting happened on Jan, 7 — ICE agent Jonathan Ross allegedly shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good at point-blank range while Good was in her vehicle unarmed. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Good was weaponizing her vehicle against Ross before the shooting, but video evidence shared online has prompted criticism of the Trump administration’s characterization of events.

Protests about the shooting popped up in Minneapolis and across the country Thursday, including Fountain Square. The demonstration was organized by Cincinnati Party for Socialism and Liberation and featured speakers from varying advocacy groups, including 5051 Cincinnati, DSA Cincinnati and NKY for Palestine. 

Signs from the protest included, “ICE is a terrorist organization” and, “Abolish the death squads.” Some just carried pictures of Good, including video screenshots from her shooting death.

Ben Barden, an organizer with 50501 Cincinnati, urged protesters to harness their anger over her death.

“It’s a traumatic event what we saw yesterday,” Barden said. “You can’t avoid that, but you can channel the fear. You can harness it, use it. Use that anger. And every day you wake up you can use that anger, and we will come closer to the day when the law will be enforced in this country, it will be enforced against that agent.” 

Speakers urged protesters to sign an online petition calling on city leaders to designate Cincinnati as a sanctuary city. Cincinnati once declared itself a sanctuary city in 2017, but the title was largely symbolic.

The U.S. Department of Justice last year released a list of states and cities it considers “sanctuary jurisdictions” that did not include Cincinnati. The term, while not a legal definition, is used to identify cities that “materially impede enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations,” according to the justice department. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said in February 2025 that CPD would not assist ICE agents with deportation efforts, but that her officers would follow federal law.

The petition has surpassed its 2,000 signature goal as of Friday evening.

Keep scrolling to view photos from Thursday’s protest and march at Fountain Square.

Photos by Martin Lopez-Isidro.

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