Federal immigration agents have killed two men who were not targets of enforcement operations in less than a week, prompting advocacy groups and elected officials to demand the removal of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement from American communities.
The fatal shootings of Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, 26, in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in Texas have been described as extrajudicial killings by civil rights organizations including the National Police Accountability Project and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.
"The bystander videos make it clear that ICE agents carried out another extrajudicial public execution in Maine," said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project. "The only way to prevent ICE from killing us in the streets is to remove ICE from the streets." She called on Congress to freeze agency funding and limit its jurisdiction.
On July 7, federal agents in unmarked vehicles pursued Salgado Araujo in Houston as he drove his crew to a job site. The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that Salgado Araujo, a builder who had lived in the US for 35 years with no criminal history, was not the intended target of the operation. His family says he was close to obtaining legal status.
DHS claimed Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle" by attempting to run over an ICE official. The three men in the vehicle disputed this account, telling their attorney that no ICE official was in front of the van and that shots were fired from the sides.
Days later, on a Monday in Maine, an ICE official shot and killed Duran Guerrero. DHS said agents had been conducting surveillance on the last known address of "an illegal alien with a final order of removal" when a vehicle departed the residence. The agency claimed the vehicle attempted to flee, prompting the officer to fire.
Senator Angus King's office later stated that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed that Duran Guerrero was not the target of the operation. Witnesses reported that Duran Guerrero told agents he tried to stop his vehicle as they pulled him out, and that his wife and young daughter witnessed the shooting.
Immigrant rights activists noted that Duran Guerrero was authorized to work in the US and held a valid social security number.
"This is state violence with the direct intent of terrorizing communities through fear, intimidation, and deadly violence," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. "We demand ICE leave our communities immediately." Civil rights groups and lawmakers have called for independent investigations and removal of the agency from neighborhoods.
Following the killings, federal immigration officials were instructed to halt vehicle stops temporarily. Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, told Fox News the pause would allow officials to review the incidents and assess whether training improvements were needed.
Progressive groups argued the temporary measure would not address systemic issues. "A hastily hired, undertrained force of armed agents operating under exorbitant, politically driven arrest quotas" was the real problem, according to America's Voice, an immigration reform advocacy organization.
"In America we don't kill people in the streets because of the way they look. This pattern of unaccountable killings is unconscionable and unconstitutional and must end," said Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America's Voice.
The Maine shooting marks the 11th fatal shooting by federal immigration officials since the start of the Trump administration's second term, including killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Author James Rodriguez: "Two innocent bystanders dead and a pause that amounts to a slap on the wrist won't cut it, especially when the agency admits neither man was even the target."
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