Families and Witnesses to Five ICE Killings Testify Before Congress

Por Shireen Akram-Boshar — Truthout

“I don’t think justice can be served until ICE is off our streets,” said Stella Carlson, witness to Alex Pretti’s murder.

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On Tuesday, family members and witnesses of five people fatally shot by federal immigration agents testified at a public forum organized by congressional Democrats, calling for accountability for the killings.

Family members of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Renee Good, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, and Ruben Ray Martinez – all killed by ICE agents since 2025 – gave statements, as did a witness in the murder of Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.

The speakers described the last moments of their loved ones. They also spoke to what they called “dual assassinations” – how, after the killings, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Trump administration worked to smear the victims and label them as a threat.

Rachel Reyes, the mother of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, who was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Texas during a traffic stop in March 2025, explained to the audience that ICE’s involvement in her son’s killing was not revealed for nearly a year.

“For months, we were dismissed and denied access to reports, statements, and video evidence, while being told only that the case was ‘under investigation,’” she said. “We were expected to accept a narrative that contradicted the account of the passenger witness, his lifelong best friend.”

Reyes said that when they were finally able to access video footage, she saw her son confused amid contradictory orders by officers, who shot him without warning. His last words, she said, were: “I’m sorry, sir.”

“His death reflects a pattern of callousness and power imbalance that allows rights to be violated without consequence,” she added.

Stella Carlson, a witness in the killing of Alex Pretti during President Donald Trump’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, described the last moments of Pretti’s life, and the attempts to smear him immediately following his killing.

She described her neighborhood that morning as overtaken by federal agents. “There were masked and armed federal agents flooding into a one block radius, more than I had seen before. Agents were tackling innocent people to the ground, punching the windows of cars driving by, and pulling drivers out of their [car] windows with force,” she said.

She saw Alex protecting those around him as they were suddenly swarmed with federal agents. “I watched him turn away from the scene of agents and lean down to help someone, who had been brutally knocked down, leading to his very last words, ‘are you okay?’”

“In that moment, I believe Alex made a choice to be righteous, kind, and brave; to stand up for his neighbors being assaulted in the street. And then they shot him, again, and again, and again.”

“The agents fled quickly. I watched Alex die,” she said. “It all happened so fast.”

“Alex laid in the street, abandoned, as if his life had no value.”

She described how immigration agents left and then returned, not to help him, but to “manipulate his dead body,” beginning their effort to construct a narrative that he was a threat.

Family members of Renee Good, who was killed in Minneapolis in January while acting as a legal observer during Operation Metro Surge, spoke about how Renee’s killing has awakened them to the reality of ICE murders in the U.S.

“We have not moved on. We struggle every day. We will never, ever be the same,” said Donna Ganger, Renee’s mother. “It is difficult for us to balance our gratitude for what a lovely soul Renee was with the anger and confusion of the violent way she died, and the total insanity of it all.”

Brent Ganger, Renee’s brother, spoke directly to Trump’s policies. “In the days since my sister’s death, ICE agents have continued to intimidate, assault, hurt and kill innocent people. Since Renee’s death, no meaningful change has occurred,” he said, noting that the lack of Republicans in the room suggested that change is unlikely to occur in the near future.

“Until my sister was killed, my family felt safe and had no urgency to be a part of the change and stand next to our fellow human beings during their unjustified persecution. I deeply regret that it took the death of Renee to wake me up to the fact that no one in this country is untouchable,” Brent added, stating that “no one is safe while ICE continues to terrorize us.”

“ICE cannot continue to be allowed to act with endless impunity and without accountability,” he concluded.

Ronaldo and Lorenzo Salgado Jr., sons of Lorenzo Salgado, also testified, saying that it has been a “nightmare” since his killing two and a half months ago at the hands of ICE agents in Houston.

“Our mom spends hours each day sitting in front of our dad’s altar, reading her prayer book and talking to him,” said Lorenzo Salgado Jr.

The brothers spoke about having to put the pieces together to figure out what had happened to their father. “I could hear his voice on the videos posted online, crying for help,” Ronaldo said.

“DHS first said ICE targeted our father, then admitted he was never their intended target at all,” Lorenzo added.

Sean Murphy, an attorney representing the family of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, also testified at the hearing. He said that Guerrero’s daughter’s car seat was not returned to the family; when they asked why, they were told that it was because a bullet shot by an ICE agent had hit the car seat.

The attorney also read a statement from Guerrero’s partner, Karolina Rojas Alvarez, which said, “No immigrant should be murdered in this way. On behalf of my husband’s family, my daughter and myself, we insist on justice.”

But despite the powerful testimonies, the public forum, led by Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) and Rep. Robert Garcia (California), focused largely on reforms to ICE and DHS that critics say will not fundamentally change the institutions.

As Blumenthal said, the demand is for “the same kind of standards that are imposed on local police.” Blumenthal and other Democrats repeated the asks from the Democrats’ 10-point plan of introducing reforms to ICE like requiring body cameras and IDs, and prohibiting agents from masking.

But critics say that minor changes, and Democratic oversight of the agency, will not be sufficient to rein in ICE.

“I don’t think justice can be served until ICE is off our streets, and until those in detention are returned home,” Stella Carlson, the witness to Alex Pretti’s murder, said in her testimony. “We need ICE off our streets.”

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Shireen Akram-Boshar is a socialist writer, editor and Middle East/North Africa solidarity activist.

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Fonte: Truthout