In recent cases, immigration enforcement has turned deadly. How did we get here?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, understanding how immigration enforcement can turn deadly. Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero was 26. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was 52. Alex Pretti and Rene Good were both 37. They were all shot and killed by federal immigration agents this year.
Donald Trump promised that ICE enforcement in this country... would target the worst of the worst.
That's House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaking during a press conference Monday.
But instead, billions of taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE to brutalize and kill American citizens and violently target law-abiding Americans. immigrant families and communities.
Pretty and good, both U.S. citizens died weeks apart in January in Minneapolis amid what the Trump administration called Operation Metro Surge. Fast forward six months to July and two more deaths involving immigration agents. Salgado Arajo, an immigrant from Mexico, was killed on July 7th during a traffic stop in Houston. Then on Monday, Duran Guerrero, who's from Colombia, was shot and killed in Maine, also during a traffic stop.
Why is ICE there in the first place?
Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, told NPR Tuesday.
They arrested over 200 people in Maine last winter. 19 of them had criminal records.
How many deaths have been tied to immigration enforcement since the administration change?
This isn't about the worst of the worst. The whole premise of this thing is phony. They shouldn't have been there in the first place. Consider this.
There is a lot we don't know about the specifics of these latest shootings. But to what extent is law enforcement training a factor and can anything be done to keep people safe? We put those questions to a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner and police chief.
From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.
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It's Consider This from NPR. There have been at least nine deaths tied to immigration enforcement actions since President Trump returned to the White House. Four of them have been this year. So what is going on? Is this normal? Should this be happening?
Which recent fatal incidents involving ICE and Border Patrol are highlighted and where did they occur?
These are just a few of the questions we're going to put now to Gil Kerlikowsky. He was U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner during the Obama administration. He also served as Seattle's chief of police. Welcome.
Thank you.
Let's start with this. Does the string of fatal shootings this year by federal immigration officers, does it alarm you?
Well, it's far outside the numbers that would have occurred in the past. So it would be alarming. And if you were a police chief in a big city, you would be very alarmed.
Obviously, nobody ever wants anybody to be shot and killed by officers. But what is normal? What is the expected rate? And how does this year compare to that?
Well, there's no real expected rate because it can vary much by the city, by the density, by the population, etc. But for this federal agency to have this number of fatal encounters is alarming and it should be concerning to everyone, particularly given the tactics that have been used that have led to these shootings.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:33
2
How many deaths have been tied to immigration enforcement since the administration change?
1:33–3:38
3
Which recent fatal incidents involving ICE and Border Patrol are highlighted and where did they occur?
3:38–5:14
4
Why are ICE and Border Patrol operating in places like Maine and Houston?
5:14–10:35
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Consider This from NPR
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