At least 100 people gathered Friday night outside Eugene’s Federal Building, to hold a vigil for a man recently killed in Texas while being detained by ICE agents.
People lay down flowers in a heart shape, while a few others lit candles outside the building’s entrance. A photo of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was prominently centered. The Mexican national was fatally shot July 7 in Houston. He leaves behind a wife and three sons.
Federal officials say Araujo was resisting orders and tried ramming his vehicle into an ICE officer’s vehicle, while immigrant advocates and Democrats have called for an independent investigation. None of the ICE personnel present had body cams during the incident.
Among those at the Eugene vigil was Clare Nelle, a graduate student at the University of Oregon. She said Eugeneans have effectively stood up against ICE by challenging them in courts and on the sidewalks, but more work lies ahead.
“We need to actively look out for our friends and neighbors who have been kidnapped by ICE and will continue to be if we don’t stand up and protect them,” she told KLCC. “I can’t imagine their fear right now. And I grieve for them.”
A Latino Ph.D student chose to be identified only as Ivan, fearing for his personal safety and privacy. He said he’s a child of immigrants, and that his family lives in Houston where Araujo died. He fears for those targeted by the president’s anti-immigration crackdowns.
“People who could be potential scientists like me. Potential lawyers, engineers, all kinds of professions, who–with the current administration–are being robbed of the wonderful futures that they could get,” he said. “That is why I’m here.”
Ivan said many people in his home area are too scared to leave their homes for fear of being deported or worse at the hands of federal personnel.
At least eight deaths have happened during the Trump Administration’s intensified deportation surge, according to the Associated Press. The president has defended his push, baselessly claiming that immigrants bring violent crime into the U.S.
The crowd began to slowly disperse about an hour after the vigil started.
Copyright 2026, KLCC.
