Indivisible Riverside Protest Demands ICE Accountability, Questions Rapid Hiring After Citizen Shootings

Protesters packed both sides of University Avenue in downtown Riverside on Jan. 23, condemning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Trump administration after the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renée Nicole Good — and warning that a fast-growing ICE workforce is being built too quickly to guarantee consistent training, vetting and accountability.

Organized by Indivisible Riverside as an “ICE Out for Good” protest, the action framed ICE’s street-level tactics as increasingly aggressive and, in the words of multiple participants, morally indefensible — especially as disputed accounts emerge in high-profile incidents involving U.S. citizens.

Cheryl Smith of Moreno Valley, a retired teacher and principal, said what brought her out wasn’t partisan politics so much as what she described as a collapse of basic decency. “This is not political now. This is human decency,” Smith said, pointing to videos she said show people slammed to the ground and children separated from parents. She said she wants local officials to host more public forums where residents can pressure lawmakers “up the chain” and demand enforcement that follows warrants and due process.

Along the protest line, a brief confrontation underscored the heat around the issue: a middle-aged man walking a small dog taunted a woman holding a “No Kings” sign, and she taunted him back as drivers rolled by — lots of honking in support, few jeering.

Several demonstrators said Good’s death was their breaking point. Protesters referenced the Jan. 7 shooting in Minneapolis, widely reported and now under scrutiny, in which an ICE agent identified in reports as Jonathan Ross fatally shot Good; local reporting has said the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.

Christopher Jorgenson of Grand Terrace said he had been “apolitical” for a long time, but the Good shooting pushed him into the street. He said he wants elected leaders to impose sweeping restrictions on ICE — “or have them out of ICE.” Asked what he’d tell President Donald Trump, Jorgenson responded with an expletive, then added: “Where’s your humanity gone? Can’t you at least see we’re all human people? We’re all equal. We all deserve to have rights.”

Shane McChristy of Ontario said he heard about the protest through Indivisible and described “immense support” from many drivers, punctuated by hecklers yelling for protesters to “get a job.” He said he wants local leaders to “hold law enforcement officers accountable,” enact protections against abuse of the justice system, and ensure due process — especially, he said, when U.S. citizens can be detained.

Kristin Podgorski of Riverside said the steady drumbeat of immigration enforcement news has felt like “a moral wound,” and that protesting is how people build the collective energy to keep pressing back. “This is doing something,” she said, arguing that public demonstration can sustain civic engagement beyond a single day on the sidewalk.

Riverside resident Dan Hobsworth, who said he has spent his life working with immigrants and refugees, called immigrants essential to the U.S. economy and said civil-rights protections must be nonnegotiable. “It’s really disconcerting that the civil rights of Americans are being violated,” he said. He urged enforcement of California rules that restrict face coverings for law enforcement, saying local agencies should confront federal officers operating in the region.

About 15 hours after Riverside protesters repeatedly cited Good’s death, another disputed fatal shooting during a federal operation in Minneapolis intensified the outrage they said they feared was spreading.

At about 9 a.m. on Jan. 24, Alex (Jeffrey) Pretti — a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and ICU nurse who cared for veterans at the Minneapolis VA — was shot and killed in south Minneapolis near West 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue during a federal immigration enforcement operation, according to major-outlet reporting. Federal officials said agents acted in “self-defense,” claiming Pretti approached with a handgun and resisted being disarmed. But bystander video reviewed by major outlets has fueled sharp dispute over that account, with footage appearing to show Pretti holding a phone as he was subdued shortly before shots were fired.

Pretti’s parents, in a statement released after his death, described him as “kindhearted” and said the family was “heartbroken but also very angry,” alleging the administration’s narrative about their son was false. In that statement, they asked the public to “get the truth out” and accused the Trump administration of spreading “lies” about what happened.

The timing of the two Minneapolis shootings — and the disputed accounts that followed — landed as the Department of Homeland Security publicly celebrated a dramatic hiring surge at ICE, touting a “historic 120% manpower increase” driven by a nationwide recruitment campaign.

That speed has triggered alarms among critics and some lawmakers, who have raised concerns that recruitment standards and training requirements may not be keeping pace with expansion — the very issue Riverside protesters said must be confronted before more people are harmed.

For Riverside demonstrators, the hiring and training questions weren’t abstract policy debates — they were presented as the throughline connecting a swelling enforcement apparatus to real-world consequences. As they dispersed, participants said they want independent investigations into disputed shootings, clearer standards for how agents are trained and supervised, and elected officials willing to challenge ICE’s expansion before, they say, more lives are lost.