On Jan. 7, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On Jan. 24, 37-year-old intensive-care unit nurse Alex Pretti was fatally shot by ICE officers while peacefully protesting. 

Since the agency’s inception in 2003, ICE has obstructed due process and treated immigrants inhumanely. What ICE has not been known for, until recent events, is the murder of United States citizens.

What is happening right now is not exclusive to a single city or state. Since September, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has shot 13 people during immigration enforcement operations. In Trump’s second term in office, ICE agents have also killed Silverio Villegas González in Chicago, Isaias Sanchez Barboza along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, and Keith Porter in Los Angeles. While these three people were not citizens and have gotten little comparable news coverage to Good and Pretti, any use of extreme violence by ICE is unacceptable. Multiple others have been wounded.

ICE’s violence is not limited to any one place, person, or citizenship status and could just as easily have happened in St. Louis.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has stood in direct support of ICE. In September 2025, for example, he ordered the Missouri National Guard to assist in ICE’s “administrative, clerical, and logistical duties.” All six of Missouri’s Republican U.S. House representatives also voted in favor of DHS and ICE funding last week. 

The fact is, ICE is here, and its presence in Missouri may continue to grow. Just last month, ICE officials toured a warehouse in Kansas City, Missouri, as part of a broader initiative to convert industrial buildings into detention centers across the U.S. intended to hold future detainees. Although Kansas City’s City Council blocked this effort, U.S. Representative Mark Alford named Missouri’s 4th Congressional District as an alternative location. Last year, Missouri Senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt suggested using Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County to train ICE agents. 

Although to our knowledge ICE has not entered WashU’s campus, many students are already reckoning with the presence of ICE in their hometowns. It can be hard to conceptualize the very real consequences of news headlines or the most recent immigration raid. Yet, for students who are immigrants, have undocumented family members, or stand in opposition to these attacks, the danger and fear are very real.

As college students, the mundane life of classes may make our daily actions feel meaningless against the backdrop of national unrest. Yet, we each have the ability and obligation to stay informed about ICE’s impact on our community and oppose their presence and actions.

It may be tempting to simply repost Instagram infographics, but our work should not stop there.

Resistance comes in many shapes and forms and can exist in your daily work. What you consume, what you create, and who you choose to work for all matter. Let current events be a part of your daily conversations. Make connections with your course materials, and have discussions with your friends, peers, and professors.

We can all act today by contacting our elected officials, both in St. Louis and our hometowns, and voicing our frustration and anger. We can demand that ICE leave Minnesota and that officers be held accountable for their actions. We can urge officials not to grant any additional funding to ICE without a thorough bipartisan investigation into its actions. Enough pressure from constituents can and has affected the way elected officials vote. Facing pressure, the Trump administration struck a deal with Senate Democrats to remove the DHS from a year-long funding bill, agreeing to negotiate with Democrats over reforms to ICE.

Boycott businesses cooperating with ICE. Consider supporting local immigrant-owned and minority businesses, especially those that have directly opposed ICE and supported immigrant rights, such as Balkan Treat Box, The Gramophone, The Novel Neighbor, Corner 17, and more. 

Volunteer with local organizations that help immigrants and refugees in the St. Louis area. WashU students have worked — and actively work —  with the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action (MICA) Project, Monarch Immigrant Services, Welcome Neighbor STL,  Health Protection and Education Services, and Kindness Begins with Me STL.

Go to meetings of student groups on campus that focus on advocacy work that interests you. For example, Response in Action: Students for Immigrant Justice (RAISE) provides training for students looking to volunteer with the St. Louis Rapid Response Hotline.

No matter what we choose to do — as families are ripped apart, as people are shot and killed, and as our rights as Americans are degraded — standing by and watching cannot be an option.

Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.

Hannah La Porte | Junior Scene Editor

Sylvie Richards | Managing Forum Editor

David Ciorba | Senior Forum Editor

Kate Theerman Rodriguez | Senior Forum Editor

River Alsalihi | Senior Forum Editor

Lyn Wilkins | Junior Forum Editor

Amelia Raden | Senior Forum Editor

Sydney Tran | Editor-in-Chief

Riley Herron | Editor-in-Chief

Mason Sutton | Special Issues Editor

Bea Augustine | Managing Design Editor

Laurel Wang | Senior Scene Editor 

Elizabeth Grieve | Senior Scene Editor

Sara Gelrud | Senior Scene Editor

Matt Eisner | Managing Sports Editor

Mac Motz | Photo Editor 

Zoe Rhodes | DEI Editor 

AnaElda Ramos | Managing Illustration Editor

Quinn Moore | Managing Newsletter Editor

Isabella Diaz-Mira | Photo Editor 

Ella Giere | Photo Editor 

Bri Nitsberg | Managing Photo Editor