They say you should follow the money. But in this case, following the donations to GoFundMe accounts supporting slain mother Renee Good and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who killed her paints an extremely polarizing picture.
Fundraising efforts behind the fundraisers for 37-year-old Good and ICE agent Jonathan Ross skyrocketed since her killing on Jan. 7, with both hitting impressive financial milestones. As of this writing, Good’s GoFundMe is at almost $1.5 million. The GoFundMe for Ross is almost half of that.
A screenshot of the GoFundMe supporting Renee Good’s family in the wake of her killing by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.
The money raised for both fundraisers depicts the huge divide between those leaning toward two very different narratives: Some believe that Good was a “deranged leftist” who came for Ross’ life. Others believe that, thanks to video evidence from multiple angles, Ross blatantly used his sloppily granted powers to kill Good as she clearly drove away from him.
The Trump administration has used this senseless killing to double down on their own narrative: that liberals are dangerous and violent, slandering Good and her past to justify the shooting.
“At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement,” President Donald Trump said earlier this week, suggesting that Good was in the wrong while Ross—who took Good’s life—was in the right.
People gather near the makeshift memorial for Renee Good in Minneapolis.
On the other side of public opinion, outraged citizens filled streets across the nation calling for action against Ross.
Since the killing, more unrest across Minneapolis has led to more ICE violence, including a report on Wednesday that an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan immigrant in the leg.
Still, the Trump administration has only bolstered its stance.
The Department of Justice—namely its Civil Rights Division, which investigates police killings—revealed that it would not be investigating the killing. As a result, six prosecutors have resigned.
But Good’s killing isn’t an isolated incident. Since the start of Trump’s second term, a record number of immigrants have died in ICE custody, while reports of abuse at the hands of ICE agents have also skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, the training process for ICE agents has been drastically shortened to only 47 days—simply because Trump is the 47th president. ICE also seems inclined to hire just about anyone—including far-right, neofascist Proud Boys.
But while one side argues for the safety of human beings across the United States, the Trump administration has crafted a narrative that the people—namely immigrants and protesters—are the enemy.
