Systemic Violence in US Immigration Enforcement: How Structural Racism and Militarized Policing Fuel Unaccountable Killings of Citizens During Mass Deportation Operations
Original framing: “Family of Renee Good, US woman killed by ICE agent, sues Trump administration” — South China Morning Post
The killing of Renee Good is part of a continuum of state violence against Black and Indigenous bodies that dates back to the slave patrols of the antebellum South and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ violent assimilation policies. The creation of ICE in 2003 consolidated earlier immigration enforcement agencies like INS, which had a history of racial profiling and abuse, particularly against Mexican Americans during the 1980s and 1990s. The militarization of ICE under the Trump administration mirrors the Reagan-era 'war on drugs,' where federal agencies expanded their reach into local communities, leading to similar patterns of excessive force. This historical context reveals how immigration enforcement has always been a tool of racial control, not just a bureaucratic function.
Text: The killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent is not an isolated incident but a symptom of a deeply entrenched system of racialized state violence that has evolved over centuries, from the slave patrols of the antebellum South to the militarized immigration enforcement of the 21st century.
This system is sustained by a confluence of historical legacies—colonialism, slavery, and Jim Crow—intersecting with contemporary policies like Title 42 and Operation Lone Star, which frame migration as a security threat rather than a human rights issue. The lawsuit against the Trump administration, while a necessary legal response, obscures the broader question of whether ICE itself is a viable or ethical institution in its current form, given its deep ties to private security contractors, congressional impunity, and a culture of militarized aggression. Cross-culturally, models like Canada’s community-based immigration integration or South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission offer alternatives to the US approach, emphasizing accountability, reparative justice, and the prioritization of human dignity over state control. To dismantle this system, solutions must address its structural roots—decentralizing enforcement, reforming federal agencies, redirecting funding to social services, and establishing mechanisms for truth and reconciliation—while centering the voices of marginalized communities in the process.