By Solomon O. Smith | California Black Media
Responding to recent fatal shootings and an uptick in misconduct and excessive use-of-force incidents by federal policing agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), California lawmakers are proposing some legal guardrails to prevent them and hold officers accountable.
Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights) recently authored legislation to place limits on federal officers operating in the Golden State.
Bryan is highlighting two recent killings by ICE agents in Minnesota and California.
“If you were out in the streets protesting the murder of Renee Good and the murder of Keith Porter,” said Bryan in a TikTok video, “I’ve got a piece of legislation for you.”
In his message, Bryan was referring to Renee Good, a 37‑year‑old Minneapolis woman who was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7, and Keith Porter, 43, a Los Angeles resident and father of two who was also fatally shot on New Year’s Eve by Brian Palacios, an off-duty ICE officer.
“His heart was big. He had big heart. He loved so deep, he loved so deep,” said Porter’s mother Franceola Armstrong at an L.A. City Council meeting. “He was a joy. He was my baby. He was a father.”
Last week, Palacios was publicly identified after his name surfaced in a custody-relatedcourt filing, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
AB 1537, the legislation Bryan authored and introduced would prohibit state and local law enforcement officers from moonlighting for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its contractors, or any other entity involved in immigration enforcement.
The push for AB 1537 responds to a number of recent clashes between protesters and ICE in major cities across the country. Thousands of ICE officers have been deployed in Minneapolis, and in California violent conflicts between ICE and protesters have resulted in major injuries.
Authorities allege that Porter was firing a gun to mark the New Year, an activity his cousin, Jsane Tyler, said was not uncommon in the neighborhoodwhere he lived in Northridge.
According to the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary of homeland affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, Palacios claimed to have heard the gunshot Porter allegedly fired and confronted him.
“On Dec. 31, an off-duty ICE officer bravely responded to an active shooter situation at his apartment complex,” reads McLaughlin’s statement.
The district attorney’s Justice System Integrity Division is running a parallel investigation with the LAPD Robbery and Homicide Division, according to a communications officer at the LAPD.
Tyler told California Black Media (CBM) that the family has been stonewalled by authorities, which has led them to seek evidence themselves. She says her family heard about bullet holes at the complex and that they are asking neighbors for any video they may have.
Both the LAPD and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on an active investigation but referred CBM to older published statements about the shooting and the ongoing investigation.
“We may just have to go knocking on doors,” said Tyler.
Porter’s family has hired a lawyer, Jamal Tooson, and has held press briefings, with the help of Black Lives Matter L.A., where they continue to challenge authorities in L.A. to arrest Palacios.
Aided by Black Lives Matter L.A. the family met with Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. Activists, educators and lawyers faced off with Hochman in a tense hour-long discussion demanding a more critical investigation and charges against the ICE agent.
In nearby Orange County, a 21-year-old protester, Kaden Rummler, was shot point-blank in the face with a less-than-lethal round by federal officers. Rummler lost an eye and was dragged across the courtyard by ICE agents, according to an interview on CBS LA and video from the scene.
Responding to the escalating anti-ICE protests, President Trump threatened [SS1] to invoke the Insurrection Act on the official White House X account.
In addition to Bryan’s bill, California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) proposing Senate Bill (SB) 747, The No Kings Act, a bill designed to hold federal, state and local police accountable for violating individual constitutional rights. The bill, if passed, would only affect California.
For the family the ordeal has taken a toll, Tyler says.
Family members say they want the public to see Porter as a person and not a suspect.
“From day one when he was born people looked for him, he was a joy to be around,” said Armstrong. “My son had the biggest heart. He was sympathetic, and he had so much gratitude.”
Donations to the Porter family to support his children can be made at this GoFundMe site.