This story by Marion Umpleby was first published in the Valley News on Jan. 11, 2026.
SOUTH ROYALTON — Hundreds of protesters gathered across the Upper Valley on Saturday to mourn the death of a woman who was fatally shot last week by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, MN.
An event in South Royalton that drew more than 100 people was organized by the Building A Local Economy Resistance Hub, an activist initiative founded at the village’s community resource center following the second election of President Donald Trump. “It’s really important that people know we’re doing this because people can feel so isolated,” especially in Vermont, BALE leader Fran Miller said at the rally.
Similar events were planned in other Upper Valley communities including Lebanon, Norwich, White River Junction and Woodstock.
The events were among over 1,000 “ICE Out for Good” vigils and protests that were scheduled to take place across the country over the weekend, according to Indivisible, a grassroots coalition with chapters across the country that helped organize the movement. Protesters gathered to grieve the death of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent while she was behind the wheel of her vehicle last Wednesday.
In the wake of the shooting, Trump administration officials have described Good as a domestic terrorist who attempted to ram federal agents with her Honda Pilot, while members of her family, friends and neighbors have said they are mourning her loss and remembering her as gentle, kind and openhearted, the Associated Press reported.
For those who oppose ICE’s presence in their communities, Good’s death has only increased their opposition and fear.
During the White River Junction protest on Saturday afternoon, Katherine Paul, a member of the community activist group Upper Valley Visibility Brigade, stood near Hartford Town Hall holding a sign that read “Who is next?” in black letters.
Good’s killing sent the message that death at the hands of ICE “really could happen to anyone for any reason,” Paul said. “I think we have to fight hard to let everyone know that what ICE is doing is unacceptable and dangerous.”
Even though it was under tragic circumstances, Paul said it felt good to rally together with others. “It feels like we’re out here to show that we’re not going to be scared into compliance.”
The South Royalton event began at about 11 a.m. on Saturday when dozens of people began to congregate on the green at the corner of South Windsor and Chelsea streets. A few minutes later, a couple people at the front of the crowd began to beat a drum and a plastic bucket while others held up signs that read “Stop ICE Terror Now” and “ICE Masks Off.”
Miller, the BALE organizer, soon stepped forward to address the crowd. “We want to honor all of the people that ICE has murdered,” she said.
Elena Greenlee, BALE’s executive director, read the names of the 39 people who have died in ICE custody or at the hands of an ICE agent between 2025 and 2026. The list was compiled by the Transgender Law Center, a national civil rights organization.
“Say their names,” the crowd chanted after Greenlee read each name, and after the final name, grew quiet in a collective moment of silence. “May their memories be a blessing,” Greenlee said.
Sophie Martin, a 28-year-old who lives on her grandfather’s South Royalton farm, noted in an interview at the event that “the most recent murder by ICE struck a chord with the community that the rest of them haven’t, and I think that’s because (Good) was a white woman.”
In spite of those racial undertones, Martin, who came to the rally with her mother and grandfather, Bob Slattery, still wanted to show up and take action. “It’s a time of great unease,” said Slattery, who recalled protesting the Vietnam War when he was around Martin’s age. “Injustice doesn’t just go away by itself,” he said. “If you want to do something, you’ve got to stand up.”
He and Martin walked together in a procession down Chelsea Street and across the bridge to Route 14 where people waved signs at passing cars.
Shortly before 12 p.m., people began to walk back up the hill to the village green before dispersing. An hour later, over a 100 people lined the intersection of Maple and Bridge streets in White River Junction as part of a vigil organized by Upper Valley Coalition, a community activist group founded last February.
At the same time, about a 10-minute drive away, over 300 people gathered for another “ICE Out for Good” event in Lebanon’s Colburn Park organized by the Upper Valley Coalition and the New Hampshire chapter of the activist group, Upper Valley Indivisible.
On Maple Street, members of Upper Valley Visibility Brigade handed out pink ribbons, luminaries and white roses to participants in remembrance of Good. Nan Carroll, of Norwich, waved a sign that read “Renee good. ICE bad.”
Carroll, 70, has attended other protests in the Upper Valley, such as the “No Kings” protests that have been organized in opposition to the Trump administration. “I come to these because over time we’ll make a difference,” she said. When she was in high school in Ohio, her mother took her to protests against the Vietnam War. “Eventually, they made a difference in changing people’s minds,” she said.
