Federal agents demand Syracuse woman remove ICE-related Instagram post
ICE agents warned PaigeLynne Gonyea to take down an Instagram post they said threatened federal officers. She said it was tied to a January post naming the agent who shot Renee Nicole Good.
Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents gave Syracuse resident PaigeLynne Gonyea a written warning on Tuesday, June 24, 2026, and told her to remove an Instagram post or account they said threatened federal agents. Gonyea said she believed the warning was aimed at a January 2026 post in which she named the ICE agent she said shot protester Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
The confrontation put a local social media post at the center of a broader dispute over immigration enforcement in Central New York, where ICE activity has already triggered protests, legislative backlash and rising arrest numbers. On April 2, 2025, advocacy groups and supporters gathered at Syracuse City Hall after detainments in Jefferson County, and Jessica Maxwell of the Workers Center of Central New York said fathers had been detained in Syracuse and workers detained in Oswego.
At that time, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said the county supported removing people who were in the country illegally and committing crimes. The issue did not fade after that clash. The Onondaga County Legislature later passed a resolution condemning recent actions of federal immigration agents by a 9-7 party-line vote, underscoring how sharply the county’s elected officials remain divided over federal enforcement.
The numbers have also fed the tension. Local reporting in April 2026 said ICE arrests in Onondaga County jumped fivefold from 2024 to 2025, and that three-quarters of the people arrested in 2025 had no criminal history. In January 2026, more than 1,000 people rallied in Syracuse to protest ICE after the fatal shooting of Good drew attention far beyond Minnesota.
Gonyea’s encounter with federal agents added a new flashpoint to an already volatile local debate about immigration, online speech and the reach of federal power in Onondaga County.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
