The news came: Another person assassinated by ICE. Johan Sebastian Guererro, 26 year old father. The Boston chapter of Refuse Fascism immediately put out a call for people to go to Biddeford, Maine to stand with the decent people protesting another vicious murder, and to get out Trump Must Go NOW!!
A crew of 4 people arrived in Biddeford the next day where there were two Vigils for Mr. Guerrero, one at the site of the murder and the other at a major intersection with a small park. The blood still stained the street where he was shot and killed even though, as one bystander explained, “Authorities tried to remove it with a street sweeper”. We talked to numerous people, some who came from 100s of miles away, disgusted, angered, and wanting to do something.
Another life taken, another family permanently torn apart.
Parents with their children continued to drift by laying bouquets of flowers paying their respects, explaining to their young ones why they were there, their eyes filled with anger and fear–not wanting this to happen to anyone. A neighbor of Mr. Guerrero, an older woman in a wheelchair shared, “No one should be treated like this, just gunned down, and his daughter coming down the street to see this”.
One mother with her two children, holding a sign, “ICE = NAZI SCUM See You At The Nuremberg Trials”, explained that she was at the Vigil for Mr. Guerrero “showing people that people are against these injustices and to give them the courage to stand up against this fascist regime that is the US right now”. After a discussion about what Refuse Fascism’s mission is, she quickly stated, “We need to start a chapter here”. Another young woman came up to us, asking to hold a Trump Must Go Now! placard. “These murders are being normalized. ICE is being normalized. We cannot allow this to be normalized.”
At the second vigil, we met a man holding a sign, “Veteran against ICE”, furious about what ICE is doing with the concentration camps, deportations, and murders. He told us that he is a teacher and that his immigrant students are his best students, then they disappear, never knowing why or what happened to them. Next to him was a woman who said, “I woke up to the sound of gunshots.” In tears, she pointed, “His blood is right there!” She went on to say, “I am disgusted and sickened by the fact that some pro-ICE people came yesterday evening [to the initial Vigil of hundreds for Mr. Guererro] supporting ICE and some of these MAGA idiots were denying that he was even shot by ICE.” This reminded me of how there are “two countries within this country,” with two sets of values and ideas of truth.
That same afternoon there was a demonstration against ICE in Portland. About 600 mostly younger people listened to speakers and then marched through downtown Portland, including along Commercial Street and the piers along the water, while hundreds of tourists were watching. It was refreshing to see so many younger people in the streets. We distributed about 400 flyers and Refuse Fascism placards with the demand “Trump Must Go Now” were seen throughout the march. People used RF’s QR code on the spot to sign up. The main sentiment at the rally from people we talked with was that we have to “Abolish ICE” but also that we cannot wait for the elections to stop ICE.
On their own, generally people are not connecting the dots between this ICE terror and the aims of the Trump Fascist Regime – the genocidal ethnic cleansing of Black and Brown immigrants from this country being a key part of their fascist program. Helping people to understanding this reality is an important part of our mission. The demand Trump Must Go Now must be joined with the demands for ICE to stop terrorizing our immigrant neighbors, or we will be stuck fighting each new outrage on ever shrinking ground. ICE must go. Trump Must Go Now!