A crowd of protesters walks back to the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, during a protest against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, after the killing of Renee Nicole Good. (Photo by Adrian Ashford/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — More than 150 people gathered Thursday night in front of the Statehouse to protest the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and an agent’s fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.
Organizers from the South Carolina chapters of 50501 and the Party for Socialism and Liberation gave brief speeches before leading most of the crowd on a 0.6-mile march to Columbia City Hall and back.
Police cars blocked off portions of Main Street as the crowd walked, chanting slogans condemning Wednesday’s killing of Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three who was shot through the windshield by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Police cars also followed the walkers.
The protest in the state capital remained peaceful and lasted for about two hours.
It began along Gervais Street on the sidewalk in front of the Statehouse, with people waving American flags and holding signs with slogans including “stop ICE terror” and “stop attacking U.S. citizens.” People honked their horns as they drove by.
Samantha Rainwater of Columbia, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told the SC Daily Gazette that the group marched to city hall to discourage Columbia leaders from signing agreements with ICE or expanding its presence in the city.
Across South Carolina, 19 counties, 10 cities and two state law enforcement agencies participate in ICE’s 287(g) program, named for the section of a 1996 law that authorized it. They do not include Columbia or Richland County. The most recent participant, Elloree Police Department in Orangeburg County, signed on Wednesday, according to ICE’s website.
Minnesota and national leaders have disagreed sharply on the circumstances surrounding Good’s death, which has prompted large protests in Minneapolis and across the country.
Video of the shooting shared with the Minnesota Reformer, an affiliate of the Gazette, shows officers approaching a vehicle stopped in the middle of a snowy road. One yells at her to get out and tries to open the door. Good slowly backs up, then pulls forward as she begins to drive away. An officer at the front of the vehicle, identified in court records as Jonathan Ross, shoots three times.
At a news conference Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the officer acted in self-defense. She alleged Good was attempting to kill him with her vehicle, which she called an “act of domestic terrorism.” Vice President JD Vance continued Thursday to call it self-defense.
Sigourney Howell, a 27-year-old Sumter resident, said she came to the protest because she worries about what’s next for America. What can be seen and heard on video doesn’t match what officials are saying, she said.
Brenda Peake said she came from Rock Hill to join the Statehouse protest because she believes the government is lying about what happened to Good, and she couldn’t stay quiet.
“You look at the videos and you can see that she’s trying to get away,” said the 77-year-old, who used to work for the North Carolina Department of Corrections. “As a female, I know if a guy in a mask and a big gun came up to my car, I would try to get away. It’s just an instinct.”
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