By Lucy Hodgman, Staff Writer July 18, 2026
Gift Article (SFChronicle.com)
Protesters memorialize people killed in encounters with federal immigration agents during a gathering at San Francisco’s 24th Street Mission BART plaza Saturday.Lucy Hodgman/S.F. Chronicle
Protesters filled San Francisco’s 24th Street Mission BART plaza Saturday afternoon, voicing anger and grief over the deaths of three people in encounters with federal immigration officers this month.
In the span of less than a week, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers fatally shot 25-year-old Joan Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, and 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. A third man was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing ICE agents in St. Augustine, Fla.
Their deaths reignited national frustration over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and calls for a day of action across the country Saturday. Dozens of people joined the protest in San Francisco, carrying “ICE out” signs and a banner demanding “Justice for Lorenzo, Joan and all victims of ICE” as passing cars honked in support.
“I’m furious about what happened to Lorenzo and to Joan and to many countless others,” Kari Hwang, an organizer with Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, told the crowd. “I’m furious that this doesn’t surprise us anymore.”
In January, U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis, sparking protests around the country. Thousands of Bay Area residents participated in a nationwide general strike that month, with students around the region walking out of class and dozens of businesses closing in solidarity.
Nancy Jodaitis said she came from the Richmond District to the Mission neighborhood for Saturday’s protest in hopes of showing solidarity with immigrants in the city and around the country. “There’s grief, there’s outrage, and there’s a commitment to fight against what is happening,” she said.
Federal immigration authorities have been “poking a sleeping giant,” said Eisa Al-Shamma of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Recent protests, he said, are a sign of people “waking up.”
“That could be any of us,” Al-Shamma said of the people killed by ICE agents this year. “What’s to separate me from those men? There’s really nothing but luck and birth.”
Both Guerrero and Araujo were killed after federal agents tried to pull their vehicles over, prompting ICE to suspend most vehicle stops. Trump later appeared to contradict that guidance when he wrote on social media, “we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”
Jim Martinez, a San Franciscan wearing a U.S. Navy veteran cap and an array of anti-Trump pins, said he felt a sense of deep frustration when he learned of the shooting deaths this week.
“These people are just going to work,” Martinez said. “They’re minding their own business. It’s total bulls—.”
July 18, 2026
Staff writer
Who they are
Lucy Hodgman is a Hearst Fellow on the Chronicle’s climate and breaking news teams. She previously covered politics for the Times Union in Albany and breaking news for Politico and the Sacramento Bee. Originally from Brooklyn, she is a graduate of Yale University, where she studied English and edited the Yale Daily News.
How to reach Lucy
To provide story tips or feedback, email lucy.hodgman@hearst.com. To share tips securely, use Signal at lucyhodgman.32.
