Melrose Vigil Mourns ICE Killings
Written By Patrick DeVivo
Photo from Indivisible Melrose Wakefield and Beyond
On Saturday morning, July 25th, several dozen residents gathered on the steps of Melrose City Hall and took part in a vigil protesting recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The event was organized by the local chapter of the political action group Indivisible and was one of hundreds of similar vigils held simultaneously around the country. Indivisible is an organization that advocates for the fundamental precepts of democracy such as the right to peaceful protest and the rule of law.
Speaking before a backdrop of pictures of individuals who have been the objects of ICE violence, the vigil featured speeches by local immigrant advocacy groups, prayer, music, and poetry.
The event followed the recent killings by ICE agents of two men, Lorenzo Salgado Albarojo, a small business owner in Houston, Texas, and Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a young father in Biddeford, Maine. Neither man was the intended target of ICE agents at the time of their killing.
Indivisible member Sue Herz introduced Father Isaac Martinez of Trinity Parish in Melrose, who opened the vigil by requesting a moment of silence before leading a prayer in remembrance of the two men.
In his prayer, Martinez acknowledged that “we come with our grief as we mourn the loss of these precious lives and the holes that their deaths create in their families and communities. And we grieve the deaths of the dozens of people, immigrant and native born alike, who have died at the hands of ICE.
But Martinez also recognized that “we come with our purpose, our conviction and our solidarity. We come knowing that we are not alone. We come knowing that our country has seen dangerous times like ours before and has come through to the other side.”
Indivisible member Mary Hildebrand then spoke, describing Salgado Albarojo as the embodiment of the American dream, a 52-year-old construction business owner from Houston who had lived in the U.S. for over 30 years and built a company that created jobs for U.S. workers.
According to Hildebrand, on the morning of Tuesday, July 7, Salgado Albarojo left home before 6 a.m. to pick up three co-workers for a job. As they drove, two SUVs boxed in his vehicle — one oncoming, one from behind — and he was shot and killed while still seated in his truck.
Photo from Indivisible Melrose Wakefield and Beyond
Community member Rod McInnis then spoke about Duran Guerrero, who was a young father living in Biddeford with his partner, Carolina, and their three-year-old daughter. He possessed a valid Social Security number and a work permit. He worked as a food delivery driver during the day and an assistant at a veterinary clinic at night.
McInnis recounted that on Monday, July 13, six days after Salgado Albarojo's death, Duran Guerrero was driving to work when masked ICE agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded his car and shot him while he remained in the driver's seat. His young daughter was in the car and witnessed the shooting. McInnis told the crowd Duran Guerrero's last words were that he had tried to stop.
Both speakers led the crowd in a call-and-response pledge to remember the two men and asked that their memories “be a blessing.”
Immigration attorney Maria Moti then spoke about the broader climate of fear that has been created in immigrant communities as a result of these killings, the killings of Rene Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year, and the regular reports of the violent treatment of immigrants by ICE agents.
She described families keeping children home from school and growing fear of routine check-ins with immigration authorities. “Protecting the humanity of these immigrants should be enough, said Moti, “but we also cannot ignore their contributions through their labor, filling jobs like driving school buses, caring for senior citizens as well as health aides. nurses, as construction workers, and so many more.”
Moti called for Congress to investigate why the ICE officer involved in the Duran Guerero killing had been hired despite a lengthy history of domestic violence. She also called for the protection of whistleblowers in the Department of Homeland Security and for state lawmakers to pass the pending Massachusetts PROTECT Act, which would bar ICE agents from courthouses and similar public spaces and prohibit local police from cooperating with the agency.(The Act was signed into law by Governor Maura Healey earlier this month.)
As an example of advocacy producing results, Moti pointed to a recent court ruling that blocked a freeze on immigration benefits for applicants from 39 countries. She also urged support for Massachusetts' Haitian community ahead of the looming end of Temporary Protected Status.
A reading by poet Sammy Greenspan and live music by local guitarist and singer Patrick Synan were followed by closing remarks by local Indivisible member Brigid Alverson.
Alverson urged attendees to “turn your sadness and your anger into action” through the wide array of opportunities offered by Indivisible, including weekly standouts in downtown Melrose or at area highway overpasses, bearing witness demonstrations each Wednesday at an ICE detention center in Burlington, and pressuring state legislators on the Protect Act.
Alverson also credited sustained public pressure, including weekly demonstrations outside a Citizens Bank branch in Malden, with the bank's recent announcement that it would stop financing private immigrant prisons. “There are more of us than there are of them,” she told the crowd.
The vigil closed with organizers thanking attendees and encouraging them to carry signs to Main Street as the program wrapped up.
