Protesters Gather at Olvera Street to Denounce Recent ICE Shootings

Protesters Gather at Olvera Street to Denounce Recent ICE Shootings

A demonstration took place at Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, where protesters denounced recent deadly shootings by ICE officers in Maine and Texas. The crowd expressed outrage over the killings of Yohan Sebastian Duran Guerrero and Lorenzo Araujo, calling for the abolition of ICE and reallocation of funds to social services. Protesters criticized the lack of accountability and demanded an end to what they see as targeted violence.
NBCLA NBCLA

‘ICE Out' protest held at Olvera Street. | Transcript:

A demonstration took place today at Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles as people gathered to protest against ICE. They were denouncing recent deadly shootings in Maine and Texas. NBC 4's Starsha Phillips has more on the message from protesters. Demonstrators took to the streets in Los Angeles outraged over a deadly shooting by ICE officers, the second in less than a week. This could have been my own father. This could have been our brothers. This could have been our neighbors. The latest shooting in Biddeford, Maine, surveillance video shows a white car driving in circles and an ICE officer pulling a lifeless body from the car.

The Colombian Embassy identified the man killed as 26-year-old Yohan Sebastian Duran Guerrero. DHS says an officer fired his weapon fearing for public safety when they tried to stop Guerrero and he attempted to flee. DHS confirms he was authorized to work in the US and officials say he was not the man ICE was looking for. And neither was 52-year-old Lorenzo Araujo, who was shot and killed by ICE agents in Houston on July 7th when he tried to evade arrest during a traffic stop, according to DHS. They were not the targets. Well, then why in the hell did they end up being killed? In both shootings, officers were not wearing body cameras. Sources tell NBC News ICE recently upped the pressure on

its officers to make arrests, raising the quota to 2,000 arrests per day. And ICE agents are not trained the way police officers are trained. ICE agents are not real police officers. They get significantly less training. They do not wear body cameras. They wear masks and they are out of control. The Department of Homeland Security has temporarily ordered all officers to stop targeting people in THEIR VEHICLES. NOT ONE MORE! BUT FOR MANY, BY ICE in less than a week, that simply isn't enough. We know that ICE hasn't always existed, so we know that it doesn't always have to exist.

We need to end this organization now and use those funds for what people really need: health care, dignified jobs, education. Darsha Phillips, NBC 4 News.

More News Transcript