Editor’s Note: This is not the first instance of an assassination by an ICE agent since the Trump administration took office, and it likely won’t be the last unless something changes. This issue is hitting closer to home every day. Orange County is our community, and we cannot afford to stay silent while it is put at risk. Please, stay alert and speak up. We cannot allow political division to destroy the safety of our country and community.
On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, the American experiment shifted from the rule of law to the rule of the gun. The killing of Renee Nicole Good—a mother of three shot in cold blood by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross—was not a “tragic accident” or a “necessary escalation.” It was an execution. Caught on multiple high-definition lenses, the footage strips away the administration’s lies: there was no imminent threat, only a woman trying to survive a pursuit by a state-sanctioned hit squad.
The Labeling of a Victim
The most chilling aspect of this murder is not just the pull of the trigger, but the ink of the pen. By immediately labeling Ms. Good a “Domestic Terrorist,” the current administration has signaled its intent to use dehumanization as a shield for state violence. This is a classic authoritarian tactic: if you can name a citizen an “enemy,” you can justify any atrocity committed against them. When the President uses ICE as a private secret police force, and JD Vance advocates for total immunity for these agents, they are effectively placing the “Gestapo” above the Constitution.
The Silence of the Capitol
Congress currently stands at a crossroads of cowardice. While lawmakers have viewed the same footage that we have, the halls of power remain silent. They wait for a “proper investigation” while the evidence sits in plain sight. What is the threshold for action? Does the civil war declared by the executive branch against the people—immigrant and citizen alike—need to reach the front steps of the Capitol before the legislative branch remembers its duty to check and balance?
The Failure of the Fourth Estate
While independent reporters seek the truth, the mainstream media continues to carry water for the administration, sanitizing a murder into a “security incident.” They justify the killing of a mother in front of her community because it fits a narrative of “law and order.” But there is no order in a system where an agent can kill with impunity, and there is no law in a country where the local police are bypassed by federal enforcers who answer to no one.
A Warning to the Enforcer
To Jonathan Ross: You may feel protected by the current political climate, but history is a long and unforgiving witness. By choosing to act as a tool of a burgeoning dictatorship, you have sacrificed your humanity and endangered the very safety of your own legacy. Karma is not a political policy; it is the inevitable consequence of one’s actions.
The Final Line
At what point does a democracy become a dictatorship? It happens when the people stop asking “why” and start asking “who is next?” If Renee Nicole Good can be murdered on video without an arrest, then no one—regardless of their status—is safe. The line has been crossed. The video is the evidence. The silence is the complicity.
Justice for Renee Nicole Good is not just about one agent; it is about whether we still live in a nation of laws or a nation of shadows.
The OC Reporter 