Mounting pressure is being placed on US officials to restrict the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on American streets, following two fatal shootings by federal agents within a single week. The incidents involved two men who were not the intended targets of the enforcement operations, sparking outrage from civil rights and advocacy organisations.
Advocacy groups, including the National Police Accountability Project and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, have characterised the deaths of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas as 'extrajudicial killings'. Lauren Bonds, Executive Director of the National Police Accountability Project, stated that bystander videos suggest an 'extrajudicial public execution' occurred in Maine, asserting that the only way to prevent such incidents is to remove ICE from street operations. She suggested that Congress could achieve this by freezing agency funding and limiting its jurisdiction.
Details have emerged regarding how these deadly operations unfolded. On 7 July, federal agents in unmarked vehicles pursued Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old builder originally from Mexico, in Houston. He was driving his crew to a job site. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that agents were conducting a 'targeted enforcement operation' but admitted Salgado Araujo, who reportedly had no criminal history and was close to obtaining legal status after 35 years in the US, was not the intended target. DHS alleged he 'weaponised his vehicle' by attempting to run over an ICE official, a claim disputed by witnesses in the vehicle who stated no official was in front of the van and shots were fired from the sides.
Less than a week later, on Monday, an ICE official in Maine shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old from Colombia. DHS stated agents were surveilling the last known address of an individual with a final order of removal when Durán Guerrero departed the residence. Senator Angus King's office later conveyed that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin informed the Maine senator that Durán Guerrero was not the target of the operation. DHS claimed the vehicle attempted to flee, leading an officer to discharge their weapon 'fearing for public safety'. However, witnesses told media outlets that Durán Guerrero stated he tried to stop his vehicle as agents pulled him out, with his wife and young daughter reportedly witnessing the aftermath.
While many circumstances surrounding the Maine shooting remain unclear, immigrant rights activists have stated Durán Guerrero was authorised to work in the US and possessed a social security number. Civil rights groups and elected officials are demanding independent investigations into both killings and the withdrawal of ICE from US communities. Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), condemned the actions, calling them 'state violence with the direct intent of terrorising communities through fear, intimidation, and deadly violence', and called for full accountability.