Editorial: Four people killed by ICE agents. A lawless administration. It won't stop unless voters act

The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 20, 2026

Published in Op Eds

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A poet, a nurse, a construction worker and a food delivery driver. The four people killed in 2026 by federal immigration agents were regular folks trying to live their lives in peace before they were crushed by the unchecked power of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

The brief respite between the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January and the deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero over the last two weeks shows the government learned nothing from what happened in Minneapolis earlier this year.

There, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, alongside members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, spread terror and chaos in plain view. Masked and heavily armed, agents trampled people’s constitutional rights as they used excessive force to intimidate and arrest with impunity, ultimately killing Good and Pretti, both U.S. citizens.

Sadly, the national outrage that followed did not dissuade Trump from his misbegotten mission — it merely amounted to a public relations problem addressed with a few firings and a temporary suspension of the siege.

That it was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino who lost their jobs instead of Stephen Miller, the white nationalist architect of the president’s immigration crackdown, signaled where the White House stood.

Starting in June, the Trump administration once again unleashed ICE on America’s streets, with a reported target of 2,000 arrests a day. With little oversight, zero accountability, no transparency, and goaded by officials to escalate, it is a miracle more people haven’t been killed already. It is also likely that more deaths will follow.

The latest killings share striking similarities. Both Salgado Araujo in Texas and Durán Guerrero in Maine were on their way to work, both were not ICE investigation targets, and both were shot by agents during traffic stops.

Eyewitness video has repeatedly captured agents in unmarked cars aggressively pursuing and cutting off drivers, as well as firing on moving vehicles — tactics long abandoned by most law enforcement agencies, whose use-of-force policies prioritize protecting human life.

Immigration agents have also used banned choke holds and utilized tear gas and pepper spray indiscriminately, even harming children, ProPublica reported. A recent analysis of 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents by the American Civil Liberties Union found that immigration agents are using force and the threat of force as default tactics to coerce, not to respond to any threat.

ACLU researchers concluded there was a systemic breakdown in professional norms and standards with “encouragement of abuse by senior administration officials.”

After Durán Guerrero’s death, cooler heads inside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security called for a moratorium on vehicle stops, but were almost immediately overruled by the president, who was reportedly furious.

In fact, Trump has consistently shown no empathy nor taken any responsibility for what is being done in his name. If anything, he has doubled down on his inflammatory racist rhetoric against immigrants and anyone who would stand against him.

This should chill every American to the core as much as it should spur us all into action.

What is happening with ICE is not about enforcing immigration law; it is about a lawless administration willing to systematically ignore the Constitution, including every person’s right to walk down the street without fear of being assaulted, detained, or arrested by the government without cause. It is about a president using the vast power of the United States against those he deems a target with little concern about who gets caught in the crossfire.

Once this kind of violence becomes accepted and normalized, its use will not stop. No place and no one will be safe.

Voters must act quickly to hold federal lawmakers accountable.

Republicans in Congress have blindly enabled Trump, acquiescing to his demands, including $70 billion in June for immigration enforcement. That’s on top of the $75 billion ICE received last year. This would be excessive at any other time. Coming when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet as life becomes more unaffordable, it is indefensible.

Trump’s obsession with immigration enforcement is costly, shortsighted, and un-American. And until lawmakers rein in the president, it will be increasingly and indiscriminately deadly.