Approximately 50 demonstrators convened in Pasadena on Saturday as part of a nationwide action to commemorate individuals who have died during immigration enforcement operations and within detention centers under the Trump administration.
Participants wore neck-mounted flyers, adorned with yellow thread, displaying the names and images of some of the 75 individuals who have perished since January 2025. Phrases such as "Killed by ICE" were printed above each photograph, including that of local resident Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, a 52-year-old who died last year while attempting to evade immigration agents at a Monrovia Home Depot.
The demonstrators, affiliated with the San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible group, carried American flags and signs bearing slogans like "No ICE No War" and "Stop ICE Murders." Organizer Betsy Hanger addressed the crowd via megaphone, urging passing drivers to "Honk for democracy" and express their desire for ICE to be removed from the streets.
Andra Clarke, another organizer, highlighted the increasing number of deaths attributed to ICE, stating, "Now 75 people have died at the hands of ICE." She refuted claims that the agency targets only "criminals," asserting that they are instead "targeting communities, they’re targeting people of color. It’s fascism." The protest also served as a vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, killed by an ICE agent in Houston on July 7, and Johan Sebastian Guerrero, 25, fatally shot by an ICE officer in Maine earlier this month.
The event included a moment of silence and the reading of dozens of names of those who have died, with a singing bowl struck after each name. A poster board featured a photograph of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old woman found unresponsive in Pittsburgh after being released by ICE in "cold winter conditions and no care for mental health episodes or notice to relatives."
Leticia Lopez, a South Pasadena resident, expressed her deep emotional response to the ongoing incidents, stating, "It gets me to the core... I just feel like I need to do something." She recounted generational trauma stemming from her own family's forced repatriation experiences and noted the current climate of fear, where individuals carry passports to prove their citizenship due to concerns of profiling and detention.
Later, organizers placed dozens of white crosses bearing photographs of the deceased outside a Pasadena Home Depot, creating a makeshift cemetery where attendees laid flowers. Marlom Portillo of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network questioned the community's response, asking, "Are we going to wait until 70 more die to do something?" He vowed, "We will never get tired of denouncing this atrocity."
Kathleen Vallee, a Monrovia resident, observed the disparity between the protest's attendance and that of other events, remarking, "And that says a lot about us." She conveyed her distress, stating, "It turns my stomach... This just seems to be seeping up from the sewer into our democracy and that motivates me." Sheri Lochner, part of the East Pasadena Community Defense Corner, shared her experience witnessing an ICE raid at the Monrovia Home Depot, describing the agents' actions as "So un-American."
