ICE’s indiscriminate violence conveys that nonwhite
immigrants, lawful or otherwise, have no place in Trump’s America.
Mitchell
Zimmerman
 |
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Slain by ICE in Houston, Texas on July 7, 2026. |
In less than one week, ICE agents killed twice.
Neither victim was the man they were looking for. And each
time their excuses made no sense. But the killings served a purpose:
terrorizing immigrant communities, in pursuit of Trump’s white nationalist
agenda.
On July 7 in Houston, masked ICE agents who did not identify
themselves stopped and shot
to death Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52 year old Mexican national and father
of three. Araujo had lived in the United States for 35 years and had applied to
obtain legal status. He was on his way to work in construction.
Using its by-now familiar excuse, Homeland Security
officials claimed
that Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and tried to run down ICE agents by
“weaponizing” his van. The claim was disputed
by witnesses, is inconsistent with the video evidence, and makes
no sense.
Araujo had no criminal record. Why would this
law-abiding, middle-aged family man ram an ICE vehicle and try to kill
ICE agents?
 |
| Johan Sebastian Guerrero |
Six days later, in Biddeford, Maine, ICE killed again. This
time they killed Johan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old
Colombian man who was authorized to work in the United States.
Again, ICE claimed that Guerrero tried to run down the ICE
agent. Again, no evidence supported the excuse. Twelve hours later Homeland
Security abandoned the “weaponized” vehicle claim and tried another story: The
ICE agent, “fearing
for public safety,” shot Guerrero because he “attempted to flee the scene.”
Under Homeland Security’s account, an unmarked ICE vehicle
driven by an unknown masked man attempts to stop a vehicle, the driver (who was
not their intended target) tries to escape, and the agent fires. They claim,
essentially, that failing to stop (if
that actually even happened) amounts to “fleeing the scene” — and requires
deadly force.
Johan
Sebastian Guerrero was working legally at two jobs, as a cleaner and a
food delivery driver. He had a wife and a three-year-old daughter. Who can
claim he was so dangerous he had to be killed?
Since Trump returned to the White House, ICE agents have
killed at least 10
times, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as of this writing.
ICE agents routinely
shoot at people in vehicles, even though official
U.S. government policy warns against the practice and says law
enforcement officers should “move out of the path of the vehicle” rather than
shoot. In addition, at least 49 people have died in
ICE custody so far in Trump’s second term — a number that will only
climb.
Brutality and violence are routine
features of ICE operations, yet no ICE agent has been held responsible. In
Trump’s war against immigrants, ICE agents know they may slay with impunity.
Donald Trump’s campaign of demonization and vilification
sets the stage. Trump calls immigrants “animals”
and “not
human,” likening them to criminals
or escaped mental patients. He calls them “vermin” who “infest our
country,” and he embraces the Nazi theme that a despised group is “poisoning
the blood of our country.”
The unrestrained brutality of ICE is a reign of terror. Killing
without cause is not a problem for the Department of
Homeland Security; it is a feature. ICE’s indiscriminate violence conveys that
nonwhite immigrants, lawful or otherwise, have no place in Trump’s America.
There is little point in considering DHS’s pretexts for
killing on a case-by-case basis. ICE’s abuse of immigrants is not the result of
individual misdeeds — it is policy. ICE cannot be reformed because its purpose
is not enforcing the law. It is terrorism for a white supremacist vision of
America.
Those who reject Trump’s vision, who insist on the humanity
of our neighbors, who still believe we must welcome to America’s shores those
yearning to breathe free, must stand up and say No.
Mitchell Zimmerman is an attorney, longtime social activist, and author of the anti-racism thriller Mississippi Reckoning. He's also a longtime contributor to Progressive Charlestown. His writing can also be found on his Substack, Reasoning Together with Mitchell Zimmerman.
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