ICE Agents Confront Woman Over Instagram Post Identifying Agent in Fatal Shooting

Two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents visited a woman at her workplace in New York and told her she could be arrested unless she removed an Instagram post identifying a federal agent involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good earlier this year, according to her account.

Paigelynne Gonyea said the incident took place on Tuesday while she was working at a polling site in Syracuse. She claims the agents approached her to discuss a social media post in which she identified the ICE officer who shot and killed Good earlier this year.

“For ICE to come to me over a social media post just feels very 1984 to me,” she told Syracuse. com. She added: “They definitely should have known better to not go into a polling place, even if I said it was OK.”

Gonyea said the encounter began after she received a phone call from someone identifying themselves as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent while she was on duty. She later shared a voicemail on Instagram in which the caller said they wanted to discuss a post that “doxed an ICE agent”.

According to her, she told the agents to come inside the polling location rather than meet her outside, as she did not want to speak with them alone. She said the officers arrived with a folder containing copies of her social media posts and her driver’s licence.

Gonyea said the agents asked her to sign a form and told her that she violated federal law. They instructed her to “remove and/or discontinue” the behaviour. She added that she felt pressured while still at work.

“They tried to scare me into signing it while I was working,” Gonyea told the outlet, adding that she refused to take down the post.

She said the post in question was published on January 8, where she identified an ICE agent involved in the shooting of 37-year-old Renée Good in Minneapolis. In the post, she wrote: “BREAKING: The ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in broad daylight has been identified as Jonathan Ross by the Minnesota Star Tribune,” adding, “I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted!”

Good’s killing, along with another shooting weeks later involving Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti, sparked public anger and renewed debate over US immigration enforcement. The DHS has previously said both shootings were in self-defence and justified, despite disputes over available video footage.

Gonyea has also shared video footage of the encounter with ICE agents, saying they confronted her over “doxxing” the officer. She disputes the claim, arguing that the agent’s name had already been reported in the press and that she did not posted agent's personal information.

Doxing, or doxxing, generally refers to the publication of private identifying information online with the intent to harass, intimidate or endanger an individual.

The document Gonyea says she was asked to sign was issued under ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). It stated that an Instagram account “TURNDAPAIGE OFFICIAL” was believed to have posted content that could violate federal law. The notice warned that it is unlawful to threaten or incite violence against federal officials or their families, and that publishing restricted personal information with intent to intimidate or facilitate violence may also constitute a federal offence. It further stated that such actions could lead to both federal and state prosecution.

Gonyea declined to sign the document and has since sought legal support, launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for a civil rights attorney.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) criticised the incident, noting that the officer’s name had already been reported publicly. “A free America doesn't dispatch federal law enforcement agents to intimidate someone for an Instagram post of publicly available information,” FIRE senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh said in a statement. “Free speech is the bedrock of a free society, and the First Amendment squarely prohibits ICE agents from intimidating Americans for nothing more than repeating information from a newspaper report,” he added.