Statement on the recent ICE shootings

Two men have been killed by ICE agents in less than a week. That is the sobering, terrifying headline we have all been struggling with these last few days. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father living in Houston, and Joan Sebastian Guerrero, also a father in Maine, have both had their lives tragically taken too soon due to ICE’s brutality within just days of each other.

But we need to be clear about something. These killings are not new. ICE has always been a violent and deadly organization. Long before this administration took power, ICE was terrorizing our communities, destroying families, and ending lives. Between 2015 and 2021 alone, 23 people were killed in shootings by ICE officers. These were fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters whose lives were stolen by an agency built on detention, deportation, and death. The cruelty did not begin in January 2025. It was always there.

What has changed is the scale. Since President Trump returned to office, more than 60 people have died in ICE shootings or while in ICE detention, marking the highest mortality levels in two decades. At least 11 fatal shootings by federal immigration officials have been recorded since January 2025. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas, and Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Maine are not isolated incidents. They are part of a deliberate escalation, a campaign of terror waged against immigrant communities, communities of color, and anyone this administration decides to target.

ICE is not a public safety agency. It never was. It was always designed to criminalize, cage, and kill. And this administration has unleashed it to do what it was built to do, with more force, less oversight, and zero accountability.

These deaths are devastating examples of the daily threat that ICE presents to our communities. We continue to see these officers taking a violence-first approach, through killing, kidnapping, arresting, and deporting people who are simply trying to live their lives.

“We have seen the tactics this federal administration is willing to use to circumvent due process. In the most recent ICE killings, neither victim was the target of the operation. This is not an isolated failure. It reflects the racial profiling ICE relies on to unlawfully detain people. Knowing our rights is not enough. Families must have real conversations. Families need a plan for the worst case scenario. They need to know how to identify lawful representation before a crisis hits,” said Cristian Nunez, ACT 4 SA’s Organizing Director.

ACT 4 SA will continue to speak up against ICE violence and demand an end to ICE terror. We will not rest until the systemic oppression facing families across our city and across our nation has ended. Rest in power Lorenzo and Joan.