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Car horns echoed through downtown Vienna on Sunday, Jan. 11, as drivers showed support for protesters lining both sides of Maple Avenue after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis.

Local volunteers organized the “ICE Out for Good” rally following Good’s death on Wednesday, Jan. 7. The poet and mother was shot during an encounter with federal immigration agents.

The Vienna demonstration was among hundreds organized nationwide to honor Good, seek accountability and draw attention to the effects of immigration enforcement. Other protests took place across the region, including in Washington, Arlington, Franconia and Montgomery County.

Federal officials have repeatedly alleged that Good attempted to strike ICE agent Jonathan Ross with her vehicle. Witness accounts and videos of the encounter, including footage recorded by Ross, have raised questions about that account and suggest Good was beginning to drive away when she was shot in the head.

Good’s wife said the couple was relatively new to Minneapolis and had wanted to support neighbors protesting ICE operations in the city.

The shooting followed other recent incidents involving federal immigration agents. Border Patrol agents shot two people during a traffic stop in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 8. Since September, ICE agents have fired on at least nine people across five states and Washington, D.C., including Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant and cook who was fatally shot during a Sept. 12 traffic stop in suburban Chicago.

Federal authorities have said in each case that a vehicle was being used against an agent, though attorneys for those who were shot have disputed those claims, and available video has challenged some official accounts. Thirty-two people also died in ICE custody last year, the highest total since 2004.

One Vienna organizer, who asked not to be identified, said the rally was intended to show solidarity with Good and express alarm that an American citizen could be killed during an immigration enforcement operation.

The organizer had previously led two anti-ICE demonstrations and expected Sunday’s event to be the largest, possibly attracting as many as 2,000 people. The crowd was spread out, making an exact count difficult, but protesters extended along Maple Avenue from Park Street to at least Center Street after the rally began at noon.

There were no formal speeches. Rep. James Walkinshaw, whose district includes the Town of Vienna, attended to speak with participants and support their demands.

Walkinshaw later said protesters were calling for an end to the Trump administration’s mass-deportation policies. He argued that Americans want secure borders and immigration laws enforced fairly and humanely, not mothers killed by what he described as a lawless administration.

Vienna resident and organizer Steve Swanekamp helped manage the crowd at the request of a friend involved with Indivisible Virginia. He said the turnout left him hopeful that opposition to the administration’s actions would continue growing.

Swanekamp called for a thorough investigation into Good’s death and said President Donald Trump and other administration officials should refrain from reaching conclusions before that inquiry is completed.

Protesters also criticized ICE tactics and the administration’s immigration policies, arguing that they undermine due process and democratic principles. Swanekamp objected to masked agents conducting arrests and removing people from their homes.

Some participants used humor and costumes to make their point. One woman wore an inflatable frog outfit inspired by Portland protesters who have used mockery as a form of defiance outside an ICE processing facility in South Portland, Oregon. Another appeared as Garfield with a sign declaring, “I hate Mondays and fascism.”

The woman in the frog costume said she was demonstrating in defense of the Constitution and due process, and to demand safety for citizens and visitors alike.

A mother attended with her 13-year-old son and his grandmother. The family has protested together since 2017, when demonstrations erupted at Dulles International Airport over Trump’s restrictions on immigration from nine Muslim-majority countries and the suspension of refugee admissions.

They have since participated in “No Kings” rallies and weekly pro-immigration vigils in Vienna. The mother said she wants her son to understand that their community comes together in opposition to injustice and fascism.

Her message to federal immigration agents was blunt: Leave local communities alone. Her son’s grandmother described ICE as a secret police force that America should not tolerate.