Pennsylvania lawmakers criticize violent ICE encounters

By Christina Lengyel
The Center Square

With ongoing protests across the commonwealth over the actions of the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, 18 Pennsylvania legislators have issued a statement signaling their opposition to federal policy.

The lawmakers highlighted the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis as well as the nonfatal shooting of two people by U.S. Border Patrol in Portland and the recent death of Upper Darby resident Parady La after losing consciousness in an ICE detention center.

Of Good, the legislators wrote, “Building a community of respect, care, and support is a sacred responsibility entrusted to each of us. For doing this vital work, on Wednesday, January 7, ICE agents in Minneapolis, MN murdered Renee Nicole Good—a mother, poet, and community member who was onsite to document ICE’s violence against her neighbors.”

Federal officials maintain that Good attempted to run over ICE agent Jonathan Ross before he fired his gun three times, shooting Good in the head. Observers and video analysis have disputed this claim, saying that her front wheels were pointed away from Ross whose legs were at a 90 degree angle from the vehicle at the time of the shooting.

“We know the circumstances of Ms. Good’s death because of community members who showed up to prevent their neighbors from being disappeared—people who knew what to look for and what to do in these difficult times,” wrote the legislators. “Without their quick and skillful action, the only story being told would be the lies of ICE officials and of the administration that endowed them with a budget larger than most of the world’s militaries.”

The incident has led to protests and unrest across the country, while videos of tense and violent encounters between ICE agents and residents proliferate. President Donald Trump Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests.

Trump called protesters “professional agitators and insurrectionists,” underscoring claims that Good and her wife had ties to anti-ICE activism. Six federal prosecutors have resigned over the push for an FBI investigation into the shooting victims. Vice President JD Vance told The Center Square he had “no evidence” that Good was a paid agitator.

“Since his return to the White House, President Trump has directed ICE to embark on a reign of terror and chaos in our communities, with violence that has torn apart families, shuttered small businesses, and hollowed out public spaces,” reads the statement. “In the past year, ICE agents have shot at least 16 people, and 33 people have died in detention centers across the country, including here in Philadelphia just last week.”

An account of La’s death in Philadelphia reported on the ICE Newsroom under the category “Detainee Death Notifications” reads as follows:

“Parady La, a 46-year-old criminal illegal alien from Cambodia, died Jan. 9 at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. La was being housed at and receiving treatment for severe drug withdrawal at the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Philadelphia, following his Jan. 6 arrest. The next day, La was found unresponsive in his cell. FDC officers immediately administered CPR and several doses of NARCAN and called for medical assistance.”

Legislative efforts highlighted by members of the Philadelphia Delegations to the General Assembly include “solidifying” Pennsylvania’s status as a welcoming state, limiting state and local law enforcement “entanglement” with ICE, prohibiting the use of face-coverings by law enforcement officers to hide their identities, prohibiting unlawful ICE arrests and detainments, and agricultural workers’ rights.