Border Patrol murder denounced in the streets

Claudia Patricia Gómez González was en route from Guatemala to rejoin her boyfriend in Alexandria, Va., when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents shot her on May 23. The Alexandria community responded on May 30, one week after her killing, with a protest at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of Customs and Border Patrol and a community vigil that evening. According to the Washington Post, the community and immigrant rights activists demanded justice and a transparent investigation into her death, as well as ending the separation of migrant children from their families.

At the evening vigil, organizers announced that the crowd had swelled to 200 in the parking lot behind Tenants and Workers United. The vigil honored the young woman, who would have been part of their community. They said she was “shot dead by a brutal inhumane, unjust system.” Donations for her burial expenses were accepted.

— Cheryl LaBash

Migrant organizers, activists and allies gathered in Jamaica Plain, Mass., on June 2 to mourn the death of Claudia Patricia Gómez González. The vigil was called by the migrant rights organization Cosecha and attended by a delegation from Workers World Party-Boston. Between chants and songs, attendees shared stories of how they and their families migrated to the U.S. Speakers highlighted the continued lack of economic opportunity, especially for Indigenous women in Central America, and the role of U.S. foreign policy in creating this situation.

— Workers World Boston bureau