National Nurses United condemns ICE’s deadly actions and uses Gianluca Costantini’s portrait of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo as a symbol of remembrance and the call for justice.
Just days after the killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine, National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States, issued a new statement condemning the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), describing the recent killings as the result of institutional violence and renewing its call to abolish the agency.
In its statement, NNU links the death of Durán Guerrero to that of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the Mexican worker who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Texas just days earlier. The union argues that these deaths are part of a broader pattern of escalating violence carried out in the name of immigration enforcement.
The statement is accompanied by Gianluca Costantini’s portrait of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, which National Nurses United has chosen to use once again in its campaign. The drawing has become a powerful visual symbol of remembrance and solidarity, giving a human face to the growing movement demanding accountability for deaths during ICE operations.
NNU Executive Director Puneet Maharaj said that ICE continues to operate with deadly force and apparent impunity, while communities across the country are being terrorized by increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement. The union also criticizes the criminalization of anti-ICE protests and argues that public resources are being diverted from essential services to expand immigration policing.
The nurses’ statement points to federal charges against anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota, the sentencing of activists in Texas, and raids on nonprofit organizations in Ohio as evidence of a broader assault on democratic freedoms. According to NNU, protecting patients also means standing with immigrant communities and opposing policies rooted in fear and repression.
The continued use of Costantini’s portrait demonstrates how drawing can move beyond documentation to become an instrument of public memory and civic engagement. As Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s image circulates through nationwide campaigns organized by one of America’s largest labor unions, his story continues to resonate far beyond the circumstances of his death.
