By Carol Lucas
How many fatal shootings does it take to finally melt the ICE and sweep the residual water out the door?
Make no mistake, dear reader. The moral rot within this group is surely becoming more and more apparent as the death count rises. And the circumstances surrounding these atrocities make them what they are — murder.
What I intend to do in this piece is focus upon those deaths that were perpetrated within a six-month period, those that show a group of thugs, given sanction by the present administration, who have no sense of humanity or real duty. Those whose so-called masculinity is grounded in a piece of tin, a flack jacket, and a gun!
No testosterone needed here, Pete. But I digress.
Let me begin with the most recent incident and work backward. Johan Guerrero was still able to speak when they dragged him out, face down on the pavement, and put the bleeding man in handcuffs. Daniel Boucher, 71, heard the shots from his apartment and went down to the street.
“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said, choking up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’ Clearly heard him say that.”
Let this panorama expand to include a three-year-old girl, still wearing her Bluey pajamas, crying — Johan’s daughter. Sort of reminiscent of the little guy, Liam Ramos, in his blue-knit bunny hat, who was taken by ICE.
Are you feeling a sense of pride yet?
The clincher in this story is that Guerrero wasn’t the intended target. Of course the same old excuse was put forth — he tried to use his car as a weapon. That was quickly disputed by onlookers.
But this incident wouldn’t be complete without a look at the perpetrator of this crime. His name is David Brouillette, and he is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood. Several of his close relatives reported this, and his ex-wife reported that he contacted her and asked her to lie for him regarding his past abuse that included throwing his 13-year-old daughter through a coffee table.
This, folks, is what the administration is recruiting to patrol our streets.
Just the week before the murder of Guerrero, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was a 52-year-old Mexican immigrant living in Houston, Texas, was killed in similar fashion. He had been living in the United States for 35 years at the time of his death. Transparency mandates that Salgado did not have legal permission to live in the U.S., but had begun applying for authorization. Just as important, he did not have a criminal record, something that flies in the face of the information this administration tries to use as justification.
These two killings were both committed under the auspices of a so-called valid traffic stop; understand there was no validity involved with either one. And yet, when it was announced that ICE would suspend these, it was 47 himself who made it clear that he did not agree and that they must be continued.
Twice in six days, federal agents executing an arrest warrant stopped the wrong vehicle and killed the driver. Apparently that isn’t sufficient reason for the president.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti deserve to be mentioned in this piece as well. Their deaths at the hands of ICE occurred in Minneapolis in close proximity; hers on Jan.7, 2026, and his on Jan. 24, 2026.
Again, Renee Good was in her car, and very distinct camera footage shows what happened. She was stopped sideways in the street, which led ICE agent Jonathan Ross to circle her vehicle on foot. Other agents approached, and one ordered her to get out of the car while reaching through her open window. Good briefly reversed, then began moving forward and to the right, into the direction of traffic. At this point, Ross was standing several feet away at the front-left of the vehicle which was turning away, when he fired three shots, killing her. (Wikipedia)
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old American intensive care nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs was filming law enforcement agents with his phone and directing traffic. At one point, he stood between an agent and a woman the agent had pushed to the ground, putting his arm around her. Six officers surrounded him when he was shot and killed.
Fair ratio, would you say?
As with the Renée Good case, state investigators were denied access to the shooting scene by the federal government. In both cases, 47 was quick to defend the shootings, saying the agents were acting in self defense.
It’s worth noting two things here. First, in February, Congress appropriated $20 million for ICE officers to wear body cameras. Five months later, there were none used in Texas or Maine.
Second, the government has been accused of having “quotas.” which they have denied. Its own officers say otherwise.
“All that matters is numbers, pure numbers,” one ICE insider told the New York Post. “Quantity over quality.”
I will conclude with the following which struck me with its simplicity and its accuracy.
“You say you’re after criminals — yet you come without warrants
You call us lazy — yet you arrest us at work.
You say we don’t contribute — yet you track us through our taxes.
You call us illegal — yet you seize us at our hearings.
Maybe this isn’t justice at all.
Maybe you are just white supremacists.”
These are not immigration agents! They are the President’s thugs who get to carry their racism to the extreme!
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”