‘Stop ICE terror’: Protesters rally in uptown Charlotte after fatal shootings
“No justice, no peace! We want ICE off our streets!”
Those were the chants heard Saturday throughout uptown Charlotte at Romare Bearden Park as protesters with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) came together to protest the recent ICE shootings across the country in what activists are calling the National Day of Action.
The action stemmed from three different ICE-related deaths across the United States, including the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine, which have led to mass protests in both Texas and Maine.
Another person, identified as a 28-year-old man, was killed by a tractor-trailer while fleeing ICE officers in St. Augustine, Florida.
These fatal interactions, fueled by deaths earlier in the year in Minneapolis, pushed protesters to come out and organize against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including in uptown Charlotte.
The PSL, which calls itself a Marxist-Leninist party, has been organizing alongside other groups against the federal government’s current policies, including on immigration, changes to university policies and curriculum and international affairs. The organization also played a role during Operation Charlotte’s Web, organizing hundreds of Charlotte residents against DHS operations in the city.
The protest began around 2 p.m. at Romare Bearden Park, with protesters funneling into the side of the park in the blistering afternoon heat. Once the chants began and speakers addressed the crowd, many remarked about ending what they called corporate greed and systemic oppression of immigrant communities across the United States.
“This ramping up of terror against immigrant communities is a reflection of a corporate-controlled political system that wants to bring in and exploit immigrant labor,” said H.K. Capps, an organizer with PSL. “All while repressing them with restricted legal and political rights.”
Dozens of protesters took to the streets alongside PSL organizers at around 3 p.m., chanting and holding signs while demanding justice for those killed by DHS throughout the United States.
During the protest, organizers marched throughout uptown, holding a banner and escorted by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Bike Patrol. Residents watched as protesters held their signs and chanted for justice for those killed by ICE throughout the administration of President Donald Trump.
Figures like Kat Lopez, a Charlotte resident who felt motivated to protest alongside PSL after seeing the impact of Trump’s federal policies, encouraged other Charlotte residents to protest against DHS and current U.S. immigration policies.
“We understand that people have been made to believe that protests aren’t going to change anything, that coming out isn’t going to change anything, but it does,” said Lopez. “It’s not going to change what you see or want in two days or even months, because it’s a huge system we’re trying to change.”
Lopez said the point of the protests was not only to show dissent against current U.S. politics domestically and abroad, but also to help build community, get to know neighbors and spread awareness about those who are vulnerable.
“We may think that because ‘I’m not an immigrant, this isn’t going to happen to me,’ but when they come for the most vulnerable, they’re eventually going to come for all of us,” Lopez said.
The protest ended around 4:30 p.m. with no issues involving law enforcement or counterprotesters.
This story was originally published July 18, 2026 at 5:48 PM.
