Nationwide demonstrations are scheduled for this Saturday as communities rally to protest recent fatal enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Four protests are planned in Florida, including Wilton Manors.
The nationwide day of action follows two high-profile, fatal shootings earlier this month.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed July 7 by an ICE agent in Houston, Texas, while driving a work van. Less than a week later, on July 13, agents fatally shot 26-year-old Johan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine.
Since those incidents, activists report that two more individuals have been killed during ICE operations in Florida and Georgia.
The victim in Florida, a 28-year-old Mexican national whose name hasn't been released, was sitting in a vehicle with three other people outside a gas station near St. Augustine on July 14 when they were approached by ICE agents, officials said. The man then darted across the busy thoroughfare and into the path of a semitrailer, according to a highway patrol spokesperson.
In response to the ICE-related deaths, four separate protests have been organized across the state of Florida, including a scheduled demonstration in Wilton Manors.
Advocates argue that the agency's tactics are actively harming the public.
"On the streets and across the agency’s more than 200 abuse-ridden detention facilities, ICE is making communities less safe," said the activists in a statement. "Everyday people now demand action from local and national leaders to stop these federal agencies from killing our neighbors, family and friends."
READ MORE: Civil rights groups join Florida Democrats demand probe after man flees ICE, dies in St. Augustine
The coalition of activists, led by the 50501 movement — a progressive group whose name stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement — are demanding "immediate transparency" from the Department of Homeland Security. They are also urging local and state leaders to sever ties with federal immigration authorities under the banner of "ICE Out!"
The day of action is being organized by local volunteers and families alongside several civil rights and grassroots organizations. They include the Disappeared in America project, which is managed by Public Citizen, the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, The Workers Circle, Detention Watch Network, and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
To learn more about the planned protests, visit the 50501 movement website here.
