Hundreds protest ICE actions in downtown Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Lexington on Sunday near the Fayette County District Court, demanding accountability from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE agent.

The “ICE Out for Good” protest drew an estimated 1,000 people, according to organizers, in response to the death of 37-year-old Renee Good.

“I would love to see ICE out of here. Like this has to stop. People have to have accountability for what they’ve done,” said Hannah McKinley, a protester who attended wearing a frog costume she said symbolizes resistance from the No Kings protests.

The crowd included entire organizations alongside individual citizens. A teacher’s labor union in Lexington joined the demonstration to oppose ICE’s actions.

“This is not okay. This is not what we support. America should be a safe place for everybody,” said Sarah Fightmaster-Bayerle, president of Kentucky 120 United AFT Union.

McKinley criticized ICE’s enforcement practices, saying “we’re kidnapping people, we’re tearing apart families. These people are police officers that are policing people that are living their lives.”

Organizer Ken Bitler said he helped fight in the United States military to protect people’s right to protest.

“This is America standing up and saying we’re done. We don’t want it anymore,” Bitler said.

McKinley encouraged others to stay informed about what is going on, even if they don’t participate in protests directly.

“Even if you’re not out here protesting - something from the sidelines - letting people know and speaking up and sharing this information with others. I think that is really important,” she said.

The Department of Homeland Security is defending the ICE agent involved in the shooting. Secretary Kristi Noem said ‘domestic terrorism’ justified the agent’s actions.

“If you look at what the definition of domestic terrorism is, it completely fits the situation on the ground. This individual, as you saw in the video that we released just 48 hours after this incident, showed that this officer was hit by her vehicle,” Noem said.