Dear community,
The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, our members, and our partners are grieving yet again. We are horrified that our own government has needlessly taken lives.
On July 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas. Then, less than a week later, ICE agents shot and killed Johan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Lorenzo and Johan were both devoted fathers. Lorenzo raised three children in this country. Johan had just celebrated his daughter’s third birthday a few days before his death. Both were immigrants to this country, from Mexico and Colombia, respectively, and neither was the intended target of ICE activity.
How did we go so wrong? How can an agency shoot and kill two men in one week who were not even the targets for arrest?
We can point to the seemingly unlimited funding being given to ICE, agents being hired with less training than in the past, and a culture of tolerance for cruelty that has flourished under this administration. And yet, none of these explanations can truly account for these senseless deaths and the many others that have occurred.
To Lorenzo and Johan’s families, we express our deepest sympathies for these unimaginable losses.
To this country, we must recognize that our immigration enforcement system has gone too far. It is destroying lives, families, and communities. When we look at these tragedies in the broader context, we also see increased deaths in immigration detention facilities, more violent arrests in locations once considered too sensitive for immigration enforcement, and communities living in terror of violent apprehensions and family separations.
It is time to stop. It is time to end the virtually unchecked power currently given to ICE. We need to stop the virtually unlimited funding flowing to this rogue agency. We need meaningful congressional oversight and investigations into its conduct, including these individual deaths. And it is time to restore basic protections, accountability, and due process across all ICE operations.
While the federal government is failing in its responsibility to protect immigrants, states have a responsibility to do so. That is why we are proud of the Massachusetts Legislature for passing the PROTECT Act, which is now in conference committee, and we look forward to Governor Healey signing this critical legislation into law. Massachusetts must continue to lead by protecting the rights, safety, and dignity of all who call our Commonwealth home.
Even in our grief and anger, MIRA will continue to advocate for these changes in Massachusetts and nationally. We need to work together to restore our country’s basic humanity.
In solidarity,
Liz Sweet
Executive Director
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)