Protesters gathered across the United States last Friday for a nationwide general strike against federal immigration enforcement operations and the recent fatal shootings by immigration agents.

The protests were triggered by the deaths of two Minneapolis residents shot by federal agents this month. 

Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot on Jan. 7 by an agent from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws. Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was killed on Jan. 24 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while observing a federal operation.

Is ICE enforcing the law — or abusing power and treating human lives as disposable? When violent force upends the scales of justice and warps its symbols, “justice” becomes a prop that the powerful can discard at will, and “fairness” becomes a fig leaf covering brutality. Human life deserves equal respect — not to be sacrificed to unchecked authority.