Lauren Machen traveled from Payson to Mesa on July 25 carrying the names of three men who died during encounters with federal immigration officers.
The 69-year-old retired nurse joined demonstrators near Dobson Road and Southern Avenue, where they called for accountability following the fatal shootings of two men by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers just six days apart.
Machen said she made the trip thinking about the future rights and freedoms of her two children and four grandchildren.
Lauren Machen, 69, of Payson holds a sign naming three men who died during encounters with federal immigration officers near Southern Avenue and Dobson Road in Mesa on July 25, 2026.
About a dozen protesters gathered at the intersection, where temperatures climbed to 105 degrees by around 9:30 a.m.
The demonstration was part of a nationwide day of action following the deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, on July 7 and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13.
Mesa Indivisible, organizers for the Mesa protest, called for investigations into both shootings, an end to deportation operations and the closure of a federal immigration processing center near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
A demonstrator holds a sign near Southern Avenue and Dobson Road in Mesa on July 25, 2026, during a nationwide protest against federal immigration enforcement.
Machen’s sign also displayed the name of Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, who was not shot by an officer, but died July 14 after fleeing federal immigration personnel at a gas station in St. Augustine, Florida and was struck by a tractor-trailer while crossing a highway.
Why Mesa demonstrators joined the protests
James Toner, 66, of Tempe holds a protest sign near Southern Avenue and Dobson Road in Mesa on July 25, 2026, during a nationwide day of action opposing federal immigration enforcement.
On a handwritten sign, Machen carried the three men’s names, followed by a caption “Wake up America.”
“They don’t have a voice anymore,” Machen said of the three men. She believed protesting was a way to ensure their deaths got the justice they deserved.
Her concern reached beyond those deaths. Machen said a Hispanic friend she has known for 65 years now carries her passport with her out of fear she will be stopped by immigration enforcement.
James Toner, a 66-year-old retired cable technician from Tempe, said his protest of ICE operations grew from the same values of how he treated people in his neighborhood.
“I’ve always been one that helps people up and down my street,” Toner said. “I go help neighbors all the time.”
Toner wanted immigration officers to better handle enforcement operations in a human way.
“You serve the warrant and then you take the individual to the court… you don’t just grab them off the street and throw anybody into another country where they can’t speak the language,” Toner said.
Rey Covarrubias Jr. is a reporter for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email him at: rcovarrubias@azcentral.com, and connect with him on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and X (formerly Twitter) at @ReyCJrAZ.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Protesters gather in Mesa to demand accountability after ICE deaths
