Local residents hold vigil for men shot by ICE in Texas and Maine

With lit candles, chants of resistance and tears, about 30 people gathered last night outside Riverhead Town Hall for a solemn vigil honoring the memory of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed July 7 in Houston, Texas, and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, who was shot and killed July 13 in Biddeford, Maine, both by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during immigration operations carried out days apart.

The Riverhead event was part of a coordinated gathering under the theme “Light a Candle,” which brought together residents in six East End communities at the same time, with a collective moment of silence scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at all locations.

Among those attending in Riverhead were people carrying signs reading “ICE Out” and messages supporting the Public Safety Act promoted by OLA of Eastern Long Island, while dozens of candles illuminated the front of Town Hall.

The Rev. Kerstin Weidmann of Old Steeple Community Church in Aquebogue offered a prayer before leading those gathered in the moment of silence. The group sang chants of resistance in English and Spanish, inspired by protests that followed the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

“Here we are again. It is heartbreaking to say those words. And yet, we are comforted by one another’s presence,” said Brienne Ahearn, one of the event’s co-organizers, as she opened the vigil. “As I said this past winter, community and love are the antidote, and we must continue to believe that as we fight this attack on the American people.”

The most emotional moment of the evening came with the reading of biographies of Salgado Araujo and Guerrero by local residents who sought to restore their humanity beyond the headlines.

In Salgado Araujo’s case, participants also read remarks his son, Ronaldo Salgado, a teacher, had made about his father at a press conference. Several people cried as they listened to accounts of the men’s families, their work and the circumstances of their deaths.

Salgado Araujo, 52, a native of Mexico, died July 7 in Houston after living in the United States for nearly 35 years. The father of three children, all U.S. citizens, had built his own construction business after working in the trade for years.

He had a pending application for permanent legal residency and, according to his family, was told at his most recent immigration hearing that he was close to receiving a work permit. He had no criminal record.

According to workers traveling with him, he fled a pursuit by unmarked ICE vehicles because he feared someone was trying to steal his truck. Agents fired through the passenger-side window after he had been cornered. His three workers were detained, and his family does not know where they are now.

Guerrero, 26, a Colombian national, died July 13 in Biddeford, Maine. He had lived in the United States with his wife and 3-year-old daughter since 2023 and had legal authorization to work and a Social Security number.

ICE agents rammed the vehicle in which he was traveling and shot him when, according to authorities, he tried to flee. Both Sen. Angus King and the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Guerrero was not the target of the operation.

Witnesses said his daughter, wearing Bluey pajamas, was in the back seat at the time of the shooting.

During the vigil, 63 names of people who have died in ICE operations since 2025 were read aloud, with attendees repeating each name.

At the end of the list, participants observed a moment of silence for one additional person: the most recent person to die at the hands of ICE, this time in Florida, whose identity has not yet been released.

The vigils were not the first organized in the region. In January, following the deaths of Pretti and Good in Minneapolis, East End residents held a similar coordinated gathering.

Anita Boyer, the principal organizer of the evening’s events, told Tu Prensa Local that the goal was to demand accountability from ICE for allegedly acting outside the law and to urge local governments to protect the safety of all residents.

In addition to mourning the deaths, the vigils were intended to pressure East End municipalities that have not yet adopted a public safety ordinance like the one approved in May in East Hampton Town and East Hampton Village.

The measure, promoted by OLA of Eastern Long Island, requires ICE to coordinate its actions with local police and comply with due process protections.

U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota has threatened to withhold funding from municipalities that move forward with such legislation.

Ahearn said the Riverhead Town Board has not taken substantial action despite residents’ demands. She urged the community to attend the board’s next public meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, July 21, at 2 p.m.

Shoshana Hershkowitz, founder of Suffolk Progressives, compared LaLota’s position with that of the federal administration.

Shoshana Hershkowitz, founder of Suffolk Progressives, during the “Light a Candle” vigil for victims of ICE outside Riverhead Town Hall on July 15, 2026. Photo by María del Mar Piedrabuena

“He is basically acting like a bargain-basement Donald Trump,” she said, referring to threats to withhold funding from municipalities that do not share his position on ICE.

Hershkowitz urged residents to contact the congressman’s office during the August congressional recess and called for stronger mutual-aid networks to protect people who fear detention.

“We feel this is escalating and becoming even more violent,” Hershkowitz said of the climate immigrant communities on Long Island say they face daily.

She also lamented that few elected officials, with limited exceptions, have spoken out as forcefully as the situation requires.

John McAuliff, a Riverhead resident who participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and later worked for decades on issues involving Cuba, also attended the vigil and said he sees parallels between the present moment and that era.

“In the South, it was like South Africa, a system of discrimination and segregation,” he recalled of the country he knew at the time.

In his view, the public response to the deaths of Salgado Araujo and Guerrero has been as strong as the reaction following similar incidents in Minneapolis, which he said is a sign that a significant portion of the country views the situation as a source of national shame.

Organizers closed the vigil by calling on Riverhead residents to attend the July 21 meeting and demand that the Town Board consider the public safety law promoted by OLA.