I.C.E. has been a running discussion since 2017-18, with relevant posts and media found on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Initially, they began as community alerts and preparations, however it was confirmed in 2018 that I.C.E. is, in fact, surveilling civilian social media profiles for information that could be used to justify an arrest. Their surveillance has slowly begun to ramp up in severity over the years, and now, we’ve reached a peak of dehumanization within our communities. As of now, the estimate of how many people are held in detention camps is 73-75,000 people. This is a 73.5% increase over the previous year. There have been reports and rumors of I.C.E. having expansion plans of concentration camps, or as they like to call it, “large-scale detention centers”, and 16 “processing sites”. Two of these facilities are $102 million in Maryland and $70 million in Arizona. All of this is the tip of the knife that I.C.E. and Trump plan on unsheathing. This tip includes the death of three individuals, whose names, among thousands of others, have gone worldwide. Renee Good, Keith Porter, and Alex Pretti. In this article, I’d like to expand on the lives these people embraced and who they were before the incidents.
Renee Good was a 37-year-old mother of three. She was recently moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota, with her kids and her wife, Becca Good. She was born and raised in Colorado Springs. Renee was a prize-winning poet, having earned the Academy of American Poets Prize in 2020 as an undergraduate for her poem, “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs.” This award came from Old Dominion University, her poem noted for its exploration of both science and faith. Additionally, she was a guitarist as a hobby. Good had two of her kids with her first husband, Hector Pagan Jr. She had her third child with her second husband, Timmy Macklin Jr., who died in 2023 at 36. As of now, her children are 15, 12, and 6 years old. Becca Good is the children’s main caretaker after the death of Renee Good.
Keith Porter Jr. was a 43-year-old father of two, Aniyah Porter, and an unnamed 10-year-old girl. He was born and raised in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Many described him as a hardworking “jack of all trades” and a big girl dad to his daughters. He was the son of Franceola Armstrong and lived at the Village Pointe apartments, Northridge. His father said he was an outgoing and caring man, always having joy in bringing smiles to people’s faces and providing a consistent level of love for everyone.
Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse for a veterans affairs. He was born in Illinois and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was shot fatally by a federal I.C.E. agent in the middle of an anti-I.C.E. protest; Trump administration officials had used the excuse of Pretti being a “domestic terrorist” during the protest. Reports express that Pretti was brandishing a gun with the intention of “massacring” officers. Reports and observation shows that Pretti had been holding his phone and attempting to treat an injured civilian. Additionally, he indeed had a licensed gun under his name, which is below the constraints of the 2nd Amendment. Pretti was well-known as a compassionate caretaker to his patients and a deeply dedicated professional in his craft. His mind was often on the community and those around him, giving him a title that loved ones provided him: “helper.”
Trump administrations and I.C.E. agents continue to tear apart both the lives of innocents and the connections of families every day, mercilessly. The voices of the community continue to represent their anger and disdain for those in office, trying to improve the lives of those who are suffering, at peace, and make the lives that were lost, known.
Sites
https://people.com/renee-nicole-good-family-wife-kids-what-to-know-11885168
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1jepdjy256o
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/16/keith-porter-jr-ice-killing
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/28/deaths-ice-2026-
