‘Fear, intimidation, violence’: calls mount to remove ICE from US streets after agents killed two men

A protest against ICE in New York, New York on 14 July 2026. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA View image in fullscreen A protest against ICE in New York, New York on 14 July 2026. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA ‘Fear, intimidation, violence’: calls mount to remove ICE from US streets after agents killed two men Agents killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas, even though both were not targets of enforcement action US officials are facing mounting calls to remove US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from American streets after federal agents killed two men who were not the target of enforcement action in less than a week. Advocacy groups, including the National Police Accountability Project and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, described the fatal shootings of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas as extrajudicial killings. ICE pauses vehicle stops after deadly shootings in Texas and Maine Read more “The bystander videos I watched make it clear that ICE agents carried out another extrajudicial public execution in Maine ,” Lauren Bonds, the executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said in a statement. “It’s clear that the only way to prevent ICE from killing us in the streets is to remove ICE from the streets.” Congress can do so, she added, by freezing funding to the agency and limiting their jurisdiction. Details have emerged in recent days about how the two killings unfolded during operations that quickly turned deadly. 1:31 Surveillance footage shows scene of deadly ICE shooting in Maine – video On 7 July, federal agents in unmarked vehicles pursued Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old builder originally from Mexico, in Houston as he drove his crew to their job site. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents were conducting a “targeted enforcement operation” at the time but that Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal history, was not the intended target. Salgado Araujo had lived in the US for 35 years and was close to obtaining legal status, his family has said. Officers conducting surveillance for the operation noted two white vans on the property associated with the target’s address, according to DHS. A DHS spokesperson said that “officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop”. Man killed by ICE agents not intended target of immigration arrest, DHS says Read more While Salgado Araujo was not the person agents were looking for, DHS alleged that he “weaponized his vehicle” in an effort to run over an ICE official, a claim disputed by witnesses. The three men in the vehicle denied the agency’s claims , telling their attorney that there was never any ICE official in front of the van and that the shots at Salgado Araujo were fired from the “sides” of the van. Less than a week later, on Monday, an ICE o