{"id":5298,"date":"2026-07-24T10:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5298"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:39:10","slug":"calmes-send-trump-a-message-that-the-ice-killings-have-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5298","title":{"rendered":"Calmes: Send Trump a message that the ICE killings have consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Markwayne Mullin\u2019s goal, he told senators in March at his confirmation hearing to replace the failed Kristi Noem as the Homeland Security secretary, was to keep the department and its blood-stained Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency off the nation\u2019s front pages.<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: Veterans don\u2019t stop being veterans at the prison gate<\/a><\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s failed too.<\/p>\n

Front pages and screens have been full of the news that two more people, two fathers, are dead at the hands of trigger-happy immigration agents. ICE, the Homeland Security Department and the Trump White House yet again rushed to blame the victims for endangering the agents\u2019 lives, only to retreat when videos seemed to show the opposite.<\/p>\n

No justice<\/h4>\n

But what\u2019s nearly as damning for the feds as the killings themselves is this: The deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in Texas and Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero, 26, in Maine come six months after three immigration enforcement shootings in Minneapolis, including those that killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and not one federal agent has been held accountable<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Until recent days, the Trump administration thwarted all efforts by Minnesota officials to investigate and possibly prosecute the killers, not even confirming the shooters\u2019 names. As the Pretti family\u2019s lawyer, Steve Schleicher, said in a statement on Monday evening: \u201cNo family should be required to beg federal authorities to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Donald Trump regained the presidency 18 months ago, at least 22 people have been shot at by federal immigration agents and six of those have been killed. Separately, more than 50 people have died in ICE custody or detention centers, a death toll far exceeding those of past years. This week, following Salgado Araujo\u2019s killing, Mexico filed complaints with the Justice Department and is weighing civil lawsuits for the deaths of 17 Mexican nationals in ICE custody.<\/p>\n

So, Mexico seeks accountability but the United States does not. It\u2019s a global embarrassment.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s stonewalling of justice is an inversion of the rule of law in the civil rights era, when authorities in Southern states failed to act against racist abuses and murders and the federal government stepped up. Now, sadly, states are having to fill the void of justice to protect their citizens and residents from their own federal government, from lawless agents hell-bent on meeting their quotas for mass deportations. Minnesota filed an unprecedented lawsuit that\u2019s pending.<\/p>\n

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Whether for states or individuals, the legal hurdles to taking on the federal government or law enforcement officials are daunting, though not impossible with lots of time and money. In the short term, however, public shaming can have an impact on even the seemingly shameless president.<\/p>\n

After the shootings and protests months ago in Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere, the administration ceased its high-profile surges of thousands of armed agents into cities. Noem as well as peacocking storm trooper Gregory Bovino lost their jobs. ICE operations went on, to be sure, but they were intentionally lower key and didn\u2019t involve fatal shootings. Until now.<\/p>\n

In politics, as the saying goes, timing is everything. And this tragic moment offers a couple unique opportunities for shaming and, as a consequence, some accountability.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: I found out they used my photo for this AI nonsense<\/a><\/p>\n

As always with Trump, hopes must be kept in check. On July 14, for example, White House border czar Tom Homan, speaking from the White House, confirmed on Fox News that ICE agents had been ordered to end vehicle stops of suspected undocumented people temporarily; both Salgado Araujo and Guerrero, like Good, were shot in their cars (Guerrero alongside his wife and 3-year-old daughter in Bluey pajamas, Salgado Araujo beside his brother and fellow construction workers).<\/p>\n

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By early the next morning, Trump blocked even that meager step, objecting on social media: \u201cThe men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job\u201d and \u201cwe CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.\u2019s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate power<\/h4>\n

But that morning also was the occasion of the Senate hearing on the nomination of Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general and Trump\u2019s former (still?) personal lawyer, to be the A.G. And the question of his confirmation comes as Republicans are fighting to keep their slim Senate majority. Just a handful of votes \u2014 here\u2019s looking at you, Maine Sen. Susan Collins \u2014 could defeat him. That<\/em> would send Trump a message.<\/p>\n

There are plenteous reasons not to confirm Blanche, as I\u2019ve written. He\u2019s the man behind the Epstein files cover-up, vindictive prosecutions of Trump enemies and Trump\u2019s $10-billion lawsuit against the IRS, litigation that was purportedly \u201csettled\u201d in exchange for a $1.8-billion slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters and tax immunity for the Trump family. Last week a federal judge skewered that suit as having been filed for \u201cimproper purpose\u201d: the president\u2019s self-dealing.<\/p>\n

On top of that sorry record, Blanche is the architect of Trump\u2019s ICE impunity.<\/p>\n

A small but critical mass of Republican senators has on occasion bucked Trump, either because he engineered their defeats or retirements or because, as in Collins\u2019 case, he\u2019s unpopular in their state as they seek reelection. Collins, as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is more culpable than most Republicans in Congress for the billions that ICE has received under Trump. Since Guerrero\u2019s death on Monday, she\u2019s issued her typical scripted expressions of concern \u2014 not about him and his family but mostly that it was \u201cunfortunate\u201d that the ICE agents weren\u2019t wearing the body cameras she helped fund.<\/p>\n

She must do more: Vote against Blanche and urge others to do the same.<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom says that Republicans won\u2019t vote against a man so close to Trump. But that\u2019s exactly why Blanche should not lead the Justice Department. The people\u2019s representatives in the Senate could see that he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

As one of Salgado Araujo\u2019s sons said: \u201cEven though my government, my federal government, took away my father, we the people will bring justice.\u201d Busting Blanche would bring at least some.<\/p>\n

Jackie Calmes is an opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times. \u00a92026 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Dramatic new video shows army vet\u2019s full attack on New York City federal building<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate can force justice for recent ICE killings by blocking the president\u2019s attorney general nominee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nCalmes: Send Trump a message that the ICE killings have consequences - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5298\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calmes: Send Trump a message that the ICE killings have consequences - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Senate can force justice for recent ICE killings by blocking the president\u2019s attorney general nominee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5298\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-24T10:39:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Calmes: Send Trump a message that the ICE killings have consequences\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-24T10:39:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298\"},\"wordCount\":1070,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/82d00941661fd9de4ec48e7149f46e5b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5298\",\"name\":\"Calmes: Send Trump a message that the ICE killings have consequences - 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