UMD Community reacts to Keith Porter Jr.’s death at ICE Vigil
University of Maryland students gathered Monday night to reflect on the lives lost to fatal shootings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The vigil, held at the Memorial Chapel, honored individuals shot by ICE agents, with a spotlight on Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr., all of whom were murdered this past month.
The university’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter organized the event, with nearly 100 people in attendance. Participants held a moment of silence and lit candles to honor the victims’ legacies.
The emphasis on Porter, alongside Good and Pretti, was notable. The fatal shootings of Good and Pretti in Minneapolis sparked national conversation and protests.
Off-duty ICE agent Brian Palacios shot Porter, a 43-year-old Black man and father of two, outside his apartment complex in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve, according to The Guardian. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson alleged Porter fired gunshots into the air, prompting the exchange. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the officer was responding to an active shooter and was “forced to defensively use his weapon.”
The state has not arrested, charged or indicted anyone in connection with Porter’s death despite his family’s calls for an investigation.
Nick Cosgrove, a sophomore majoring in American studies and communication, said that the university’s YDSA purposefully planned the vigil to include Porter, who he said is being left behind in news coverage. Cosgrove, the organization’s co-chair, said it showcases the racial nature of ICE’s intentions.
“We want to draw attention to everyone that’s been harmed by ICE, including the marginalized communities that often get ignored or left out of headlines,” Cosgrove said.
Mohammed Salih, a senior public health science major, expressed his discontent with the lack of awareness around Porter’s killing.
“When the victim is Black, there’s no outrage. People don’t necessarily feel the need to go out,” Salih said. “The dehumanization in itself means violence against Black people is normal, and that they’re consistently dehumanized.”
Divine Mesumbe, a sophomore in the letters and sciences program, said the lack of attention and news coverage surrounding Porter’s death is disappointing.
“For Keith Porter, I think even if there was such a backlash, perhaps the deaths of Renee Good or Alex Pretti or any of the other victims could have been prevented because… hopefully [we] would have seen general strikes or big protests or something like that,” Mesumbe said.
Mesumbe attended the vigil to show opposition to the presidential administration and to remember the people ICE shot and killed.
“I believe they are taking this country in a very dark, very disgusting direction,” Mesumbe said.
Jade Blackmoore, a junior environmental science and policy major, said that she found Porter’s death disheartening.
“We as a nation need to understand that so many of these atrocities that are happening to white faces happened to Black and brown faces first,” Blackmoore said. “And if we silence those names and ignore it until it’s only white faces, we won’t be able to get anywhere.”
Blackmoore said she feels the university has failed to support its diverse student population, referencing last semester’s career fair that ICE withdrew their participation in. The student body, Blackmoore said, has also become numb to the plight of others and is focused on hyperindividualism.
“It would be cruel and insensitive to go to this college and not understand what is happening to your fellow Terps,” Blackmoore said. “We are leaving Terps behind by silencing the people who [are affected] by the issues.”
YDSA member, Xavier Perry, a freshman history and social studies education major, described ICE’s actions as part of a definition of violence that extends beyond physical harm. He specifically referenced Huey P. Newton, a revolutionary activist and co-founder of the Black Panther Party, who argued that violence exists at a structural level as well.
“This too applies when someone dies of neglect in ICE custody— that is violence,” Perry said.
Perry said a start to change would be making the university a sanctuary campus, a policy which would affirm the university’s noncompliance with ICE, similar to cities like New York or counties like Baltimore. He also said Congress should also take the steps to abolish ICE.
“I don’t have the full answers to everything, but there’s something deeply wrong with all of these systems, and it’s not even really a matter of them being broken; it’s them working exactly how they were intended to,” Perry said.
Correction: A previous version of the article misspelled Divine Mesumbes name. This article has been updated.