Two recent deadly encounters involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have intensified public scrutiny and condemnation of the agency’s enforcement tactics. In separate incidents occurring within a week in July, ICE officers fatally shot two immigrant men—Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine—sparking widespread protests and calls for independent investigations.

On the morning of July 10, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the United States for 35 years, was driving to work accompanied by his brother and two other passengers when ICE agents began following his vehicle. The agents subsequently stopped the car and discharged a fatal shot through the open window. Six days later, 26-year-old Colombian immigrant Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was stopped by ICE officers at a traffic intersection in Biddeford, where he was also fatally shot.

Both men had established lives in the U.S.; Salgado Araujo was a father to three U.S. citizen children and a husband, while Durán Guerrero worked multiple jobs to support his wife and daughter. According to data compiled by a media outlet tracking ICE-related shootings, these deaths mark the 29th and 30th instances of ICE officers discharging firearms since former President Donald Trump’s administration began its aggressive deportation campaign in 2017. Eight of those incidents resulted in fatalities, including earlier cases in Minnesota.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol, issued statements following both shootings asserting that the officers acted in self-defense. DHS alleged that Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle,” a claim that was also made following a fatal shooting in Minnesota last year. Regarding Durán Guerrero, DHS stated officers fired out of fear for public safety. However, witness videos from both incidents have raised questions about these official accounts and fueled public outrage.

The shootings have prompted thousands of demonstrators to rally against ICE operations nationwide. In Houston, crowds marched demanding ICE’s withdrawal from the city and an end to cooperation between the Houston Police Department and the agency. Civil rights groups and local leaders have called for transparent, independent investigations into the use of lethal force by ICE officers.

Advocates have also intensified efforts to document ICE activities amid reports of rapid and often unobserved arrest operations. Jasmine Khadem Gonzalez, an immigrant rights organizer with the Houston Democratic Socialists of America, emphasized the importance of recording details such as badge numbers, license plates, and time stamps to hold agents accountable.

In response to earlier controversial enforcement tactics and public backlash, the Trump administration made personnel changes within DHS, including the demotion of Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official known for leading highly visible armed ICE operations, and the dismissal of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson criticized for misleading statements, also departed the agency.

Immigration attorneys warn that heightened enforcement and recent Supreme Court decisions could increase arrests and deportations, particularly impacting approximately 1.3 million immigrants who may lose temporary protected status, including Haitians and Syrians.

Community members in Houston and beyond remain resolute in their opposition to ICE’s enforcement methods. Khadem Gonzalez described the agency as a “domestic terrorist organisation,” underscoring the depth of grief and anger felt by immigrant communities in the wake of these shootings.