Protests have erupted across the United States following the fatal shootings of two immigrants by federal immigration agents in separate incidents less than a week apart, fueling growing opposition to President Donald Trump’s intensified deportation campaign.
Thousands of people have mobilized in Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine, demanding justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, who were killed during immigration enforcement operations.
Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years, was shot after immigration agents stopped the vehicle he was traveling in while on his way to work in Houston. Six days later, Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant and father of a three-year-old daughter, was fatally shot after agents stopped his vehicle in Biddeford, Maine.
The deaths have intensified scrutiny of the increasingly militarized tactics being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the Trump administration seeks to carry out mass arrests and deportations. Immigration agents have conducted operations in neighborhoods, workplaces, farms, schools, churches, transit hubs, and other public spaces across the country.
According to data cited by advocacy groups and media monitors, Salgado Araujo and Durán Guerrero were the 29th and 30th people shot at by immigration officers since Trump returned to office. Eight people have reportedly been killed in those incidents, while dozens more have died in immigration detention facilities or during enforcement operations.
Neither man was reportedly the primary target of the immigration operations that led to their deaths.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the actions of its agents, claiming Salgado Araujo used his vehicle as a weapon and that officers who shot Durán Guerrero feared for public safety. However, witnesses and video footage circulating online have raised questions about those official accounts, prompting demands for independent investigations.
In Houston, demonstrators have called for ICE to be removed from the city and for local authorities to end cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Protesters have also demanded the release of witnesses detained following the shooting and the disclosure of the identities of the agents involved.
Crowds gathered outside Houston City Hall chanting “Justice for Lorenzo,” while community organizations, labor groups, faith leaders, and immigrant rights advocates urged city officials to investigate the killing and challenge federal enforcement operations.
In Maine, hundreds participated in vigils and marches honoring Durán Guerrero. Organizers said many members of the local immigrant community were reluctant to speak publicly out of fear of retaliation from immigration authorities.
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