Candlelight vigil for ICE victims set in Sioux Falls tonight
Today is a National Day of Action. It’s time for Americans to take action, too. There is an opportunity to do so in Sioux Falls tonight, one of more than 135 such gatherings in the nation.
A candlelight vigil will be held at 7 p.m. at Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ, 6509 S. Cliff Ave., to honor the most recent victims of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero. It is an interfaith and non-faith event where everyone is welcome.
Salgado Araujo, 52, was a Mexican immigrant living in Houston. He had been in the United States for 35 years, did not have a criminal record and was applying for legal authorization to live here.
On July 7, he was pursued by ICE agents in unmarked SUVs while driving a construction crew to a job site. Salgado Araujo was shot in the abdomen and died at the scene. ICE claims he had used his vehicle as a weapon, but the other three men in Salgado Araujo’s vehicle denied that.
Salgado Araujo’s son Ronaldo Salgado said his father “did not deserve to die” and “did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE,’”
He described his father as “a husband, a father, and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American Dream.”
Durán Guerrero, 25, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
The agents were executing a search warrant, although Durán Guerrero was not the target of the warrant. His Kia Rio was rammed by ICE agents, who fired four shots into the Kia.
Durán Guerrero was struck in the head. ICE agents handcuffed him before he died.
He was from Colombia and had been in the United States since 2023. He had a work permit and a Social Security number. Neighbors described him as a good man and a hard worker.
“The countless atrocities and tragedies currently occurring in our country help us remember that life is sacred and everyone deserves justice and peace,” according to a release for tonight’s vigil. “Diversity is beautiful and every one of our neighbors deserves to be treated with dignity. Come together in community to share your grief, your hopes, your anger, your disappointments, and love for all our neighbors. There will be time for silence and time for community.”
You can do more than just attend and offer prayers and comments. You can honor these victims and support the local immigrant neighbors through a financial donation to South Dakota Voices for Peace. This organization provides legal and other services to local immigrants.
Their website can be found at https://sdvfpeace.org/
Members of the clergy are invited to wear symbols of their faith (collars, stoles, etc.) in solidarity with the message that life is sacred and love for neighbor is right and just.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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