Zach Laird photo

Participants assemble at Plymouth Town Common for a candlelight vigil honoring victims of ICE shootings on Friday night. From left: Darlene Nadeau, Toby Dyner, Debby Hamolsky, Effie Miller, James Miller, and Alison Thatcher.

PLYMOUTH - Roughly a dozen community members gathered at Plymouth Town Common on Friday evening for a candlelight vigil to remember those killed during federal immigration operations across the country.

The event was organized by Central NH Indivisible, a group dedicated to upholding democracy via peaceful protests according to its site. It followed two recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement shootings in Biddeford, Maine and Houston, Texas in which a Colombian man named Johan Sebastian Guerrero, 25, and a Mexican man named Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, were fatally shot by officers in separate encounters.

We believe many people understand that ICE has a role yet must carry it out with respect for human dignity and in line with laws and rules. That standard appears absent at times. Immigration policy has long been complicated but handling it through disregard for people is not the answer, said Grace Garvey, co-founder of Central NH Indivisible.

A New York Times report notes 23 shootings, six fatal, involving immigration officers since President Donald Trump returned to office, covering data back to January 2025. Figures from the National Immigration Project indicate 53 deaths in ICE custody during the current Trump term, including 22 so far in 2026 and 31 in 2025.

Attendee Candace Morrison said she came to speak for immigrants facing harassment and denied opportunity. I believe everyone deserves a fair start, she added.

People pass away as part of life, yet when they are killed it becomes something else entirely, said attendee Peter Davies.

On the effect he hoped to create locally, Davies noted that raising awareness matters most and sparking dialogue helps. One issue today is that we stay in echo chambers speaking only with those like us. I want to engage with conservative MAGA Republicans without hostility and ask them not to direct it at me, but instead to discuss the matter openly.

Attendee George Maloof explained his presence by pointing to current treatment of immigrants. They are pulled from streets and shot without cause. Why would I not show up? It comes down to basic humanity.

Humanity is not negotiable, Maloof stated.

Debby Hamolsky, visiting from San Francisco, found it uplifting to join local residents. She described the effort as vital work nationwide to back immigrants amid severe hostility and severe assaults. She also supports immigrant causes in San Francisco and said seeing similar actions spread across the country gives her hope.

Attendee Ellen Broderick noted that joining the vigil added a positive note amid federal immigration developments. Receiving such news alone at home feels heavy, yet gathering with others and seeing supportive drivers pass by brings some lift during tough times, she said.