COA Holds Lewiston Vigil for Victim of ICE Shooting in Biddeford
Four days have passed since Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year old Colombian father with a three year-old daughter, was murdered by ICE agents in Biddeford when he was on his way to work. Details around the fatal shooting have been very slow to emerge, as immigrant rights advocates affirm that Guerrero was legally authorized to work in the US and was not the target of an ICE warrant. Guerrero leaves behind a little toddler and wife, both of whom had to witness his dead body lying in the street nearby his home. Our hearts ache for Guerrero and his family, and our thoughts continue to be with his loved ones during this time.
A day after Guerrero’s murder, Community Organizing Alliance (COA) was among twenty advocate groups who staged an emergency action protest outside of the Scarborough ICE facility. Upwards of 200 people attended the peaceful protest demanding justice, dignity and accountability for Guerrero’s death and that ICE leave Maine immediately.
In Lewiston, COA held a vigil where 200 people gathered at Kennedy Park Tuesday evening in remembrance of Guerrero. With the support of Maine People’s Alliance and multi-faith leader Jodi Hayashida, community members gathered around the park gazebo donned with small cards, signs, and flowers to mourn Guerrero’s death and other’s lives taken by ICE enforcement. COA’s Executive Director, Safiya Khalid, called on the crowd to support their immigrant neighbors as the fear, terror, and pain of Guerrero’s murder at the hands of ICE has reverberated throughout the immigrant community. “Now, it’s not even getting deported. Your life is at risk. You may get shot, you may get killed, right? So everyone is terrified and scared.” See more news coverage of the Lewiston vigil from Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald here.
News of Guerrero’s murder has been both devastating and infuriating, but COA will not stand by. We are organizing and we will be in the streets until there is accountability, a fair investigation, and swift justice for Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. We are calling on Maine’s federal delegation, state leaders, and the Attorney General to ensure a transparent and independent investigation into Guerrero’s murder and for the abolishment of ICE. Now more than ever we call on our community to support Guerrero’s family, the Maine Solidarity Fund and to join us in the streets to get ICE out of Maine. See COA’s press release here.
Come join us this Saturday at 3:00 pm in Monument Square of Portland for a National Day of Action to End ICE Terror.
