Nationwide Day of Action Remembers Those Killed by ICE and Federal Agents

On July 25, advocacy groups and volunteers organized vigils and marches across the United States to remember people who died while in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or were shot by Department of Homeland Security agents during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The event was supported by the Disappeared in America project (hosted by Public Citizen), the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, The Workers Circle, Detention Watch Network and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

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Demonstrations occurred in dozens of locales. In the Twin Cities, vigils honored both immigrant victims and U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot by Customs and Border Protection agents in January. Chicago’s Grant Park rally drew “hundreds of people” who marched down Michigan Avenue. Los Angeles saw a downtown march with “hundreds of people” carrying cardboard coffins, while Pasadena’s turnout was about 50 participants. Around 100 protesters gathered outside ICE’s downtown Atlanta field office, and approximately 150 people attended a vigil in Mountain View, California, the headquarters of Google.

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Organizers remembered Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastían Guerrero, Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, and the dozens of others who have died in ICE custody during Trump’s second term. The vigils also highlighted the deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse shot in Minneapolis.

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LULAC CEO Juan Proaño emphasized the personal loss, noting that “Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a husband, a father of three, and a small business owner who built his American dream with his own hands. Johan Sebastían Guerrero was killed in front of his partner and his toddler.” Julio Hernandez, director of the Congregation Action Network, urged a moral response: “I think that there is a moral obligation for us to speak up about our values. These values are not being represented well by this administration and certainly not by the way that ICE has been acting in our communities.” Ruth Robertson of the Raging Grannies warned, “People are being targeted here, and are afraid.” Gail Maclin, speaking in Atlanta, said her Senegalese husband is among the 675,000 people forcibly deported during Trump’s second term, adding that she has lost housing, a car and possessions.

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• “Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a husband, a father of three, and a small business owner who built his American dream with his own hands. Johan Sebastían Guerrero was killed in front of his partner and his toddler,” — LULAC CEO Juan Proaño

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• “I think that there is a moral obligation for us to speak up about our values. These values are not being represented well by this administration and certainly not by the way that ICE has been acting in our communities.” — Julio Hernandez, the director of the Congregation Action Network

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• “People are being targeted here, and are afraid," Raging Granny Ruth Robertson told CBS News Bay Area.” — Raging Granny Ruth Robertson

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