On the morning of July 7 in Houston’s historic East End, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by ICE. Just six days later, they killed Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. And now this morning, a so-far unidentified 28-year-old man was hit by a semi truck and killed while fleeing immigration agents in Florida, the third death at the hands of ICE in a week. Amid a nationwide surge of immigration arrests, the Trump regime is getting away with murder while slamming protesters with draconian prison sentences. The thousand-plus protesters on the streets of Houston are an important start, but we need to escalate the fightback.

ICE’s Dirty Cover-Up

ICE’s narrative is like a broken record, and people aren’t buying it. They claim that Lorenzo tried to ram them with his vehicle and that they fired in self defense. Sound familiar? It’s the same story DHS used to justify the murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis. In Lorenzo’s case, three witnesses, who were also in the vehicle at the time, gave separate accounts and their stories match: ICE rammed Lorenzo’s van, exited their vehicle, approached his van from the sides, and immediately shot and killed him through the passenger window. Following this brutal murder, these witnesses were thrown into an ICE detention facility, where they’re currently being held.

ICE has not presented any evidence to support their claims and said their agents were not wearing body cameras at the time of the shooting. Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a Democrat, has allowed the FBI to take the investigation from the Houston Police Department (HPD), essentially allowing the murderers to investigate themselves. Harris County DA Sean Teare’s office says they are still investigating, but have not pressed any charges and also admitted they do not even know the name of the killer ICE agent(s) a week after the shooting. 

The family and the community have demanded to arrest the agents who killed Lorenzo, to release the three witnesses currently in custody, and to kick ICE out of Houston, all of which we support. Achieving these demands will require mass action that directly threatens the flow of profits into the billionaires’ pockets. This is how the working class of Minneapolis and St. Paul pushed back the Trump administration and forced them to end Operation Metro Surge in January.

Lessons From Minneapolis

After the murder of Renee Good, the working class of the Twin Cities organized a day of “No Work, No School, No Shopping” on January 23—a citywide general strike. The murder of Alex Pretti the very next day led to calls for escalating strike action in Minnesota and nationwide. This threat, of a wider and deeper disruption of the flow of profits, as well as the confidence the working class would gain, is what forced the Trump administration to end Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. From Houston to Maine, we cannot forget the lesson Minneapolis showed us!

After the January 23 general strike in Minneapolis, Republican leadership announced a “course correction,” with new DHS head Markwayne Mullin forgoing big city invasions for a more under-the-radar approach. That was until a few weeks ago when ICE doubled their arrest rate nationwide, and local activists in Houston started to notice an increase in ICE activity. This has come during an ebb in the movement nationally, which did not escalate after its high point in January. In the absence of a mass movement fighting back, this can heat up even more. Activists believed it was just a matter of time before ICE would kill again, and unfortunately they were correct. At the same time, 16 protesters have been sentenced in relation to a demonstration at Texas’ Prairieland Detention Center, and 15 more activists have been indicted in Minnesota—part of a reactionary campaign to scare people away from fighting back.

Justice For Lorenzo & Joan—Abolish ICE!

The murders of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero mark at least 11 killings by Trump’s immigration agents, not to mention the dozens who have died in detention. We must honor all who have lost their lives at the hands of federal agents by continuing in the struggle for justice. In the aftermath of these killings, ICE has suspended “most” traffic stops—clearly afraid of the potential backlash this can unleash. But this is temporary and the killings will not stop as long as ICE is running amok. Building a movement to abolish ICE will require the working class to get organized and use its collective power to cut off the flow of profits.

The movements against ICE in Houston and Maine must follow the example of Minneapolis in January and call for a day of action that would serve as a citywide general strike in remembrance of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero, calling for not just ICE out of individual cities, but ICE out of every city for good. In Minneapolis, it was the relentless movement in the streets, a robust rapid response network, and the dynamism of rank-and-file union members that pushed a handful of labor leaders in Minnesota to call for a strike. In Houston, for example, the AFL-CIO, with unions like SEIU playing a leading role, should call for a day of action in the coming weeks and mobilize their members to participate, especially Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE) members. This would be an excellent step towards mobilizing for a general strike in one city that could push ICE out of town and kick-start the nationwide escalation that the anti-Trump movement needs.

We Demand:

• Trump can’t investigate himself! Launch independent investigations, led by unions and community organizations, to prosecute killer ICE agents!
• ICE out of Houston, Maine, and everywhere! Abolish ICE and put its billions in funding toward desperately-needed social services for working-class people.
• Fund our public schools, not ICE! Tax the rich to fund education, not deportations!
• No trust in the Democratic Party and politicians who talk but don’t act! We need a new party of, by, and for the working class.
• Escalate the protests to a one-day general strike! Labor unions should lead the way, calling protests leading up to a strike.