"I Voted" stickers become tributes at ICE memorials

"I Voted" stickers become tributes at ICE memorials

15 hours ago - Politics & Policy

"I Voted" stickers become tributes at ICE memorials

*"I Voted" stickers, on Nov. 3, next to the memorial for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January. Photo: Tim Evans/AFP via Getty Images*

Voters in Minneapolis and Houston are among those leaving "I Voted" stickers at memorials for people killed by federal immigration agents.

**Why it matters:** The tributes highlight how the Trump administration's unpopular immigration crackdown is motivating voters this election cycle.

**Zoom in:** In Minneapolis, people are placing stickers on memorials for Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renee Good, a writer and mother, both killed by federal agents in January.

* In Houston, voters have covered a memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a construction worker and father who was fatally shot by ICE agents in July, with stickers and handwritten messages like "I voted for you" and "Por usted" — "for you" in Spanish.

*A voter places an "I Voted" sticker on a memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on Nov. 3. Photo: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images*

**Ronaldo Salgado,** Araujo's oldest son, placed his sticker on his father's memorial in the first week of early voting, and hundreds followed him, the Houston Chronicle reports.

* "I am beyond touched that this community and that the entire city is voting with my dad in mind. ... I didn't realize it would grow this big," he told the Washington Post.

**The big picture:** These midterms are testing whether President Trump's 2024 gains with Latino voters have lasted.

* National polls in the lead-up to Election Day showed Latino voters swinging back toward Democrats, with immigration as a key area of disagreement with the administration.
* In an October NBC News/Telemundo poll, 67% of Latino voters said Trump's enforcement has gone too far, 31% said they or someone close now carries ID because of ICE concerns, and 27% know someone detained or deported.

**More from Axios:**

* Voting machine chaos hits key House battleground
* Inside the White House's Election Day messaging strategy
* Democrats could learn wrong message from a blowout victory