By Gina Yarbrough
San Diego, CA–Local activists Thursday morning led an anti-ICE procession during San Diego Comic-Con International, unveiling a large banner that read, “ICE Out of San Diego” and “This is the way.”
The procession, held near the San Diego Convention Center on Harbor Boulevard, was organized in response to the recent deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Johan Sebastian Guerrero, Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran and others during incidents involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, organizers said.
“Comic-Con is a celebration of creativity, of love for the art, the culture, the movies that move us to do bigger things, and inspire us to do the right thing or to speak out when we must,” said Salvador Sarmiento, campaign director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “Today, we need that courage and creativity to speak out about the human rights crisis here at home.”
“For Lorenzo, for Johan, for their babies that today are without their dads. This is what it means to show up for your neighbors, with creativity and courage,” Sarmiento said.
Organizers said at least four people have been killed in incidents involving ICE during the past two weeks, in addition to others who have died while in ICE detention facilities. They said Araujo was shot while on his way to work in Houston and Guerrero was shot in front of his wife and child in Maine. Organizers also cited two additional deaths reported in recent days.
More than 300 vigils and protests were planned nationwide for Saturday, July 25, as part of a national day of action honoring people organizers say were victims of alleged violence involving ICE.
In San Diego, protesters held a vigil Saturday afternoon outside the Federal Building before concluding with a procession. Organizers said the event was intended to put San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez “on notice” that they believe cooperation with ICE conflicts with public safety.
For more than a decade, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network has advocated separating local law enforcement agencies from federal immigration enforcement efforts.
Organizers said the “ICE Out” movement seeks to build opposition to cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities in San Diego, throughout California and nationwide.
The local “ICE Out of SD” coalition holds protests at 11 a.m. Thursdays at the Federal Building in downtown San Diego.
Before the procession, a coalition of Jewish, labor and immigrant rights organizations gathered at the Federal Building to commemorate Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning, and to remember the three men and others who organizers say were killed in incidents involving ICE.
Speakers at the vigil included San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera and Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.
