Demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles Tuesday to express outrage and call for consequences in two recent deadly shootings at the hands of immigration officers in the U.S. – both of which happened within less than a week of each other.
On July 7, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest in Houston, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed. Six days later, on July 13, an ICE officer shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
Protesters gathered at Placita Olvera to denounce the killings and call for accountability from the department.
“This could have been my own father,” said Paul Ramirez, who was one of a few dozen of protesters on Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles. “This could have been our brothers. This could have been our neighbors.”
The demonstration had participants chanting and holding signs seeking accountability and justice in the fatalities.
In both shootings, officers were not wearing body cameras. Sources tell NBC News that ICE recently upped the pressure on its officers to make arrests, raising the quota to 2,000 arrests per day. In the wake of the shootings, however, DHS temporarily ordered all officers to stop targeting individuals in their vehicles.
“We need to end this organization now and use those funds for what people really need, health care, dignified jobs, education,” one demonstrator said.
The deadly shootings come as part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to ramp up immigration enforcement in the country.