MUSKEGON, Mich. — Around 50 neighbors gathered for a vigil Thursday night in downtown Muskegon to honor people killed by federal immigration officers, including Alex Pretti, who died in Minneapolis last Saturday during protests over immigration enforcement.
"We're here to honor people who have been killed, either by ICE agents or border patrol or in detention, because a lot of those names are getting ignored and looked over," Maggie Doyle said.
Doyle, an organizer with the Progressive Democratic Women's Caucus of Muskegon, helped coordinate the vigil along with Indy Next Gen. The event honored Renee Good, Keith Porter, Pretti, and countless others who have been impacted.
"There's this massive sense of grief, of anger. I think the whole community is feeling that, and we're all experiencing this together as a community," Doyle said.
The vigil provided a safe space for neighbors to process their emotions and voice their feelings.
"One of the things that we've noticed most in the organizing spaces right now is that people need to speak, and so giving people the opportunity and the space to be able to say what's so heavy right now," Doyle said.
Attendees shared a moment of silence, sang songs, lit candles and participated in an open mic session.
"In the midst of darkness, we stand together and we bear the light for one another," one speaker said.
"We continue to be here in the streets of America until they are safe for our neighbors," said another speaker.
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