I’m sure if we could bring Renee Nicole Good back to life, she would not make the same decision she did in Minneapolis. This was her one life to see her children grow up, plan a vacation, eat her favorite food and  meet friends. Simple, but most of our lives are.

There is a higher calling to save lives and fight for the cause, but it was not meant to be fought on the streets of Minneapolis.

Yes, life is precious. When it’s over, it’s over. Consequences are harsh and sometimes permanent.

— Sue Atkenson, Frankort

Tragedy was coming

Renee Nicole Good’s death was a tragedy waiting to happen. Hopefully, a jury of peers will be permitted to determine whether Good’s death was a murder committed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent or an ICE agent’s act of self-defense.

Either way, President Donald Trump’s mass deportation methods made this tragedy almost inevitable. Allowing a mass showing of heavily armed federal agents in military garb to publicly take people into custody is going to draw a crowd and some protest.

Like everyone else in the country, Trump saw that these confrontations between agents and protesters were escalating. One cannot help but believe that, in permitting ICE’s continued displays of such force, Trump is enjoying the conflict and is unconcerned about the harm that has been caused by his deportation policy.

— Terry Takash, Western Springs

Split-mindedness

How is it bad for the Iranian government to kill its protesting citizens, but OK for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to kill American citizens? Please explain.

— Helen Pachay, Villa Park

Biased point of view

The editorial describing the death of Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis woman killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, as a textbook example of federal immigration overreach is deeply irresponsible, especially during these divided times (“A needless death in Minneapolis,” Jan. 9). By ignoring conflicting accounts, video evidence and the context of lawful ICE operations against illegal immigration, the Tribune Editorial Board prioritizes ideology over facts, inflaming tensions as protests erupted nationwide last weekend.

This mirrors a pattern in the Tribune’s news coverage: downplaying enforcement needs while amplifying narratives of agent aggression, as Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison has criticized. In Chicago, where immigration clashes hit home, such biased reporting risks real harm — eroding trust, inciting unrest and abandoning journalism’s duty to inform objectively.

As a longtime Chicago resident and health care professional, I urge an immediate retraction or amendment and a commitment to balanced, fact-checked stories and coverage that de-escalates rather than divides.

The Tribune’s influence shapes our city’s response to these events — choose responsibility.

— Regina Barango, Chicago

Acting with impunity

The Jan. 11 story “Shooting revives legal question” does an excellent job of summarizing the difficulties inherent in bringing federal officers to justice in state courts for actions that would be covered under state criminal codes for anyone else.

However, the article fails to address the elephant in the room: President Donald Trump. As the article points out, federal agents are most assuredly going to be able to have their cases removed to a federal court. Then, the case is likely to be dropped by the attorney general, who has shown herself to be little more than a tool of the president. Finally, should a case somehow proceed, regardless of the findings of any judge or jury (or perhaps even before any finding), it is certain that the offending agent will be pardoned by the president. One need only look to his pardons of Jan. 6 insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol, those involved in violent crimes  and others who sought to overturn a free and fair election, to know that anyone who is doing something that he endorses will receive a pardon.

Therein lies the problem. Because ICE agents know that they are in no jeopardy from the justice system, they are free to continue their lawless behavior with impunity. In this regard, the blindfold on Lady Justice seems to be precariously hanging from her head.

— David Grossman, Chicago

Not American way

The Donald Trump administration has said that the death of Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, was due to domestic terrorism. Once again, Trump is projecting onto others what he himself has done. If he had not sent all of these agents to Minneapolis, Good would not have died.

This incident is a repeat of what happened to Silverio Villegas González in a suburb of Chicago last September. The 38-year-old man was shot and killed by a U.S. immigration agent as he was trying to drive away. The agent he injured reportedly said later that what had happened to him was “nothing major.”

Trump could have his immigration crackdown done in an orderly and sensible way. He has chosen not to do that. He is using the current tactics to frighten and intimidate people.

This is not the American way.

— Linda Volino, Chicago

Hold Trump accountable

The shooting death of the woman in Minneapolis and the controversy surrounding that tragedy are such a huge story that it has for the moment overshadowed what President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration force already had done and continues to do. Which is tear apart a lot of innocent lives around this country, most notably in Democratic sanctuary cities such as Chicago and nearby — men, women and children whom Trump’s overly aggressive, indiscriminate deportation force regards as not having the right skin color or national origins.

While Trump permits this terrorism, a label he and his equally dishonest underlings attach to protesters who are justified, he may not directly order every violation by the masked enforcement squad he authorized. But he does set the standard, actually the substandard, for all of the inhumanity and other illegal acts that occur under his presidential reign.

Trump loves to hear that he’s in total control, so he should be held accountable, through impeachment or some other incriminating measure in three years, for his oppression of a lot more innocent people than the alleged criminals he claims to pursue. And for the U.S. Capitol riot.

— Ed Stone, Northbrook

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/letters-011326-renee-nicole-good-ice/