A candlelight vigil outside Philadelphia City Hall on Tuesday night brought together immigration advocates, faith leaders and supporters one day after an ICE agent fatally shot a man in Maine and one week after another deadly ICE shooting in Texas.
Attendees carried photos of both men and called for accountability as speakers shared messages of support for the families affected by the shootings.
“We are grieving two, even though we are not in the same places as those people. It’s affecting all of us,” Aniqa Raihan of No ICE Philly said.
On July 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, federal agents were searching for a person they had been investigating for weeks when they tried to stop a vehicle driven by Salgado.
DHS says Salgado rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting a federal agent to fire in self-defense.
Salgado’s family disputes that account. They say he had lived in the United States for decades and was nearing the end of the process to obtain legal status.
In Maine, a 26-year-old Colombian man, identified as Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, was fatally shot in broad daylight. According to an immigrant rights organization, DHS confirmed he was authorized to work in the United States, although the department has not confirmed his current immigration status.
Federal officials said Duran Guerrero was not the intended target.
“All of us are really broken, hurt by what’s going on. Real people have been harmed. We need respect for human life,” Blanca Pacheco of New Sanctuary Movement said.
“We would like to see the full abolition of ICE, and nothing short of that,” Raihan said.
The deaths of both men have sparked protests in Texas and vigils in cities across the country, with supporters demanding answers and accountability.
Following the shootings, ICE issued a nationwide directive telling officers to stop pursuing people in vehicles.
Some advocates said they remain skeptical the policy will be followed.
“We’ll see. It seems so far that ICE is not interested in following any rules, protocols or policies. Time and time again, they break those rules. I’m not hopeful,” Raihan said.
“We have to see if they will follow through because they are violating their own legislation every day,” Pacheco said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.