This ice cream company planned to memorialize Renee Good, but Alex Pretti’s ‘murder’ totally broke co-founder, who is now calling to disband ICE

Ben Cohen, the co-founder of the beloved ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, has officially called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be completely defunded and disbanded, as reported by The Hill. This strong stance comes after a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a man in Minneapolis over the weekend, marking the second deadly shooting involving federal law enforcement this month alone.

Cohen took to X to explain that he had actually been preparing to launch a special ice cream flavor to honor the life of 37-year-old Renee Good. Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer. However, Cohen says the subsequent killing of Alex Pretti, also 37, just days later completely halted his plans and shifted his focus to political action. Cohen explained his emotional exhaustion in an accompanying video, noting that he simply couldn’t proceed with the memorial flavor.

“I was prepared to make a special ice cream today to memorialize and celebrate the life of Renee Good,” Cohen said. He continued, explaining his decision to stop the project: “Now that Alex’s murder makes it clear that the murder of Renee and the government’s lies were not a mistake but standard operating procedure, I just don’t have it within me.”

That’s a brutal assessment, and it clearly shows how deeply these events have affected him

Cohen didn’t mince words when describing his view of the current administration’s actions and objectives. He likened ICE to a “brazen, arrogant, masked militarized force loyal only to President Trump and immune from prosecution.” He issued a stark warning to the public, saying that Minneapolis is just the beginning of a larger pattern.

“We all live in Minneapolis now, because Minneapolis is only the beginning of what they have in mind,” Cohen argued. He believes that federal agencies are currently “coming for anyone, anywhere who doesn’t submit.” The consequences he described are extreme and frightening, including: “Submit or be murdered. Video them and be murdered. Protest and be murdered, or at least be placed on a list of domestic terrorists and investigated.”

Cohen believes this environment is actively eroding fundamental rights. He stated forcefully that this situation is “not America” and called it “sheer cruelty.” He concluded that this is “the beginning of the end of the land of the free, unless we make it the home of the brave, unless we’re brave enough to stand up for justice, to stand up for our neighbors, to stand up for compassion.”

Given his feelings, Cohen is advocating for a complete governmental restructuring of immigration enforcement. He called for the agency to be dissolved entirely, suggesting the government should return to the structure of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The INS handled immigration issues before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Cohen simply stated, “Let’s go back to that.”

Cohen’s demands come as calls to “abolish ICE” have grown much louder in recent weeks. The Trump administration is facing mounting pressure to scale back its immigration enforcement operations, especially in Minnesota, where intense clashes between protesters and federal agents have been ongoing.