Friday, July 17, 2026

At Villa Parke, Demonstrators Mourn Two Men Killed in ICE Shootings Across the Country

[Photos courtesy NDLON]

Organizers say about 100 people gathered within 12 hours of the call — and local groups will join a national day of action on July 25

The two men mourned at Villa Parke on Wednesday night were strangers here — one lived in Houston, Texas and the other in Biddeford, Maine. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo died July 7, and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero died six days later. Within 12 hours of a call going out, organizers said, about 100 people came to the park to grieve for them.

Both men were fatally shot by federal immigration officers. The vigil, called by the Pasadena-headquartered National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the Pasadena Community Job Center, honored the two men and their families — and organizers said Pasadena will join a national day of vigils and coordinated actions on July 25. The local location still to be announced.

Wednesday’s local gathering came the same day President Trump reversed a one-day federal suspension of most ICE vehicle stops imposed after the two shootings.

“This time we were mobilizing for a person who wasn’t from Pasadena, for people that we don’t know. And that is what love looks like,” said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of NDLON, the national day laborer network headquartered in Pasadena.

Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and father of three who had lived in the United States for decades, was shot by an ICE officer while driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston’s East End, according to Associated Press reporting. The Department of Homeland Security said the officer fired after Salgado Araujo ignored commands and attempted to ram the officer with his vehicle. His family and a lawyer for two passengers in his van dispute that account, and a source familiar with the incident told CNN he was not the target of the operation.

Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national who worked as a delivery driver and lived in Biddeford with his partner and their 3-year-old daughter, was shot by an ICE officer shortly after 7:15 a.m. on July 13, according to the agency and local news reports. DHS said the officer fired “fearing for public safety” as Durán Guerrero attempted to flee, and officials confirmed he was not the subject of the warrant agents were executing.

After the second shooting, DHS directed ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division to suspend most vehicle stops nationwide, CBS News reported. Trump reversed the pause Wednesday morning, writing on Truth Social, “we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”

Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center, opened the vigil. “There’s a collective grieving, there’s a collective outcry and outrage of these operations,” he said in an interview Thursday.

Pasadena has seen operations of its own. On June 21, 2025, the city canceled programming at Villa Parke, Robinson Park and Victory Park after social media posts appeared to show federal enforcement activity at Villa Parke, according to a city statement issued at the time. That same morning, witnesses said three men were detained by federal agents while buying tamales at Parke Street and North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena Now reported.

Madera said the year since has changed daily life for workers and families who rely on the job center at 500 N. Lake Ave. Community members have organized rapid response teams, “Adopt the Corner” groups, mutual aid hubs and walking buses that accompany children to school, he said. “We see this hate and terror coming into our communities and we’re fighting it with love and solidarity,” he said.

The July 25 date was chosen during a national organizing call held Wednesday, Madera said, with vigils, demonstrations, protests and community meetings planned in cities across the country. “In Pasadena, we’re still coordinating what exactly we’re going to be doing, but it’ll be again something again with the lines of solidarity and love for our community,” he said.

Alvarado said dozens of families in the area are in deportation proceedings and others are in detention — among them, he said, a worker who took part in cleanup operations after last year’s fires. Hiring a deportation-defense attorney typically costs $5,000 to $10,000, he said, and immigration bonds he has seen range from about $1,500 to close to $100,000. “All we’re asking is that people have the right to due process, the right to tell their story,” he said.

The city launched the Pasadena Emergency Assistance Fund in April in partnership with the California Community Foundation, following a July 21, 2025, City Council vote appropriating $100,000, according to a city announcement. The fund supports housing, utilities, child care and legal services for families affected by federal immigration enforcement, with an initial fundraising goal of $250,000, the announcement said. Alvarado encouraged residents to speak with their council members about resources for immigrant legal defense.

Madera said residents who want to help can join rapid response or Adopt the Corner groups, support mutual aid efforts, or hire workers through the job center — and pay them well, he added. “We also say that joy is an act of resistance and we have to continue to live,” he said.

As of Thursday, organizers said the location and details of Pasadena’s July 25 event will be announced in the coming days. The Pasadena Community Job Center can be reached at (626) 440-0112. Information on the Pasadena Emergency Assistance Fund is available at cityofpasadena.net.

Madera said the vigils keep returning to the same ground because the community feels safe there. “Villa Parke is at the heart of our community,” he said. “It’s where people go to play to be with family to play sports.”