Immigrant rights advocates and religious groups carried 73 cardboard coffins through downtown Los Angeles this Saturday and held more than three hundred events across the United States to honour immigrants who have died and demand justice amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The national movement arose following the deaths of two immigrants at the hands of ICE agents in recent weeks. Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father of three U.S. citizens, was shot on July 7 in Houston while driving to work. Colombian national Johan Sebastián Guerrero was shot on July 13 in Biddeford, Maine, in front of his partner and young child.
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Guillermo Torres, a member of religious organisation CLUE, said that the 73 coffins symbolise immigrant deaths linked to White House policy aimed at achieving record deportation numbers. The funeral representation included the names of the 53 immigrants who have died in ICE custody since Trump took office, 33 of them during fiscal year 2026.
Organizers and participants in cities including Chicago, New York and Houston demanded greater transparency from the White House. One of their demands is that the Department of Homeland Security release and not deport the three people who were travelling with Salgado in the truck and witnessed the incident—Daniel Tirado Pantoja, José Trinidad Rojas Pliego and Víctor Hugo Salgado—so that they can give statements.
Erika Andiola, political director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), called for unity to defend and honour immigrant workers and day labourers, stating that they bear the brunt of anti-immigrant hatred while building communities and defending human rights. She said the gatherings were held to mourn their loss and demand an end to ICE’s “reign of terror.”
The ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo looks more and more like a cold-blooded murder.
Donald Trump’s campaign of mass deportation is an assault on the Hispanic community in the United States of America. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is a full partner in that brutality.
Thank… pic.twitter.com/CUvL49yG8k
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 24, 2026
In Houston, where Lorenzo Salgado lived for more than thirty years, hundreds of people, including members and leaders of local unions, marched to demand accountability in the investigation into the incident. Salgado’s son, Lorenzo Jr., participated in the march and said he would dedicate his life to ensuring justice is done for his father’s death, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Nationally, organizers called on state and local leaders in the 330 communities where events were held to stop allocating resources to support federal immigration enforcement efforts and to cease all coordination with ICE.
Activists also urged companies 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 denying access to private property and refusing to hand over customer information or other resources.
Instead of addressing Trump’s Iran war or the outrageous cost of housing, groceries, and gas, Republicans continue to demonize immigrants.
ICE and CBP are terrorizing and killing our neighbors. It is time we focus on accountability for these rogue agencies. pic.twitter.com/4r0BaV00vi
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) July 25, 2026
This Saturday’s national day was organised with the support of Disappeared in America, NDLON, The Workers Circle, Detention Watch Network and LULAC, the oldest Hispanic civil rights organisation in the United States, according to organizers.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.