The recent killings of immigrants are not isolated. They reflect a broader political climate of hate and exclusion.

The North Carolina Justice Center condemns the brutal killings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, who were fatally shot by ICE officers during immigration enforcement operations in Texas and Maine. We stand with their families, loved ones, and communities as they grieve these horrific acts of terror.

These killings are not isolated tragedies. They are the result of a political climate that deliberately treats immigrants as outsiders, denies their humanity, and portrays them as threats instead of neighbors.

The same politics that cast immigrants as outsiders also sanction violence through the law, making cruelty not the exception, but public policy.

The Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants will forcibly uproot families fleeing from war or environmental disasters in their home countries. H.R. 1 has stripped many lawfully present immigrants of Medicaid, ACA coverage, and SNAP, denying care to people who have followed the law and built their lives in our communities.

The same forces of hatred and division are at work here in North Carolina. Just weeks ago, state lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 153, the latest in a series of anti-immigrant laws that includes House Bills 10 and 318. Together, these laws are expanding the role of ICE in our communities, eroding public safety, limiting local protections for immigrant communities, and reinforcing the idea that immigrants should be treated with suspicion instead of dignity.

These are not unintended consequences; they are deliberate policy choices. A people-first approach recognizes that every person’s humanity has equal value and that our laws should reflect that truth.

Immigrants are part of the fabric of our communities. They live here, work here, raise their families here, and belong here.

We grieve with those who have lost loved ones, stand with immigrant communities living in fear, and call on our leaders to reject cruelty in favor of policies that uphold the dignity, safety, and humanity of every person.

Please visit our immigrant resources page for updated information on immigrant rights and emergency planning.