ICE
Los Angeles, US, Jul 24 (EFE).-
A total of 73 cardboard coffins were paraded on Saturday through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, as part of a national day that included more than 300 events to honor deceased immigrants and demand that “justice be done” amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The representation of the funeral procession, which passed in front of Los Angeles City Hall, was part of nationwide vigil named “Justice for Lorenzo. Justice for Johan. Justice for All. ICE Out,” which was scheduled to take place this weekend in some 330 communities across the US.
The national movement, driven by immigrant rights organizations and religious groups, emerged following the deaths of two immigrants at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in recent weeks.
Mexican Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, father of three US citizens, was fatally shot on July 7 in Houston (Texas) while driving to work. Less than a week later, on July 13, Colombian Johan Sebastián Guerrero died in Biddeford (Maine) after being shot in front of his partner and their young daughter.
“It is our obligation to denounce this injustice. These two immigrants should be alive, as should all those who have died in ICE detention centers due to negligence. This cannot continue,” Guillermo Torres, a member of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), a religious organization that took part, told EFE.
The pastor and human rights activist explained that the 73 coffins symbolized the deaths of immigrants related to the White House’s policy to achieve record deportation numbers.
In addition to the two men shot by ICE agents, the funeral roster included the names of the 53 immigrants who died in ICE custody since Trump took office, 33 of them during the 2026 financial year.
The organizers and participants in the events held in cities such as Chicago, New York, and Houston, among hundreds of other locations, demanded greater transparency from the White House.
Among their demands is that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release and not deport the three individuals who were traveling with Salgado in the van and witnessed the incident -Daniel Tirado Pantoja, José Trinidad Rojas Pliego, and Víctor Hugo Salgado- so that they can testify.
“We must unite to defend ourselves and honor immigrant and day laborers, who bear the brunt of anti-immigrant hate while building our communities and defending human rights. Today we gather to mourn their loss and demand an end to the ICE reign of terror,” said Erika Andiola, Political Director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON).
In Houston, the city where Lorenzo Salgado lived for more than 30 years before dying from a gunshot by an ICE agent, hundreds of people, including members and leaders of local unions, marched to demand accountability in the investigation of the incident.
Nationwide, organizers called on state and local leaders in the 330 communities where the events took place to stop allocating resources to support federal immigration enforcement efforts and to cease all coordination with ICE.
Activists also urged companies and corporations such as Home Depot and Target to exercise the rights enshrined in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution to protect their employees, customers, and communities by refusing to cooperate with ICE, which includes barring access to private property and refusing to turn over customer information or other resources.
“We are here today because Los Angeles refuses to stay silent while ICE violence tears families apart,” said Michelle Arkin, lead organizer of No Concentration Camps CA.
The national day was organized with the support of Disappeared in America, NDLON, The Workers Circle, Detention Watch Network and LULAC, the oldest Hispanic organization in the US. EFE
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