Día de los Muertos vigil honors lives lost in Florida deportation sweep

The Sarasota event was organized by El Pueblo Unido Tampa Bay.

By Johannes Werner

Original Air Date: Nov. 3, 2026

Host: Two evenings before election day, an unusually calm protest played out in a calm downtown Sarasota the night after Halloween. Some 30 people gathered, called by immigrant advocacy group El Pueblo Unido Tampa Bay. Led by Daniela Arcadia, who teaches at a school nearby, the vigil, held in the Mexican tradition, was part of a nationwide moment of remembrance. WSLR News was there.

“KILLED BY ICE,” reads the caption above this portrait of Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt. | Photos: Werner

[Music: Amor Eterno by Rocío Dúrcal]

[Indistinct chatter]

Johannes Werner: It was Día de los Muertos, just after sunset. “Amor Eterno”—Eternal Love—blared from a speaker, under a tent canopy set up at Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota. Grainy black-and-white images of the faces of 45 immigrants and friends of immigrants who have died during the U.S. government deportation sweep dangled in the evening breeze from the canopy roof. Under it, an altar with the images and stories of four of the at least six immigrants who died during arrest or in ICE custody in Florida.

Here are the four whose lives were honored: Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran was 28 when he was struck by a semi truck fleeing from ICE in St. Augustine. Royer Perez Jimenez was 19 when he was found unconscious at Krome Detention Center near Miami. 27-year old Jairo Garcia Hernandez was already in ill health when ICE took him in custody. He died at a hospital in Miami. Aled Damien Carbonell-Betancourt was 27 when he was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal detention center in Miami.

Jodany Arcadia del Rosario (white shirt) helped light the candles.

Speaker: Félix Alcorta Rodríguez. Adrian Florian. Jesus Manuel Silva. Jose Ramos-Solano. Prisciliano Trejo. Lorenzo Salgado.

JW: A pastor offered prayers. A psychologist brought up the trauma created by current policies. Michelle Jewell talked about her mother, who recently self-deported. And book author Sarah Towle talked about the border-industrial complex and urged people to go vote.

The number of deaths in Florida is disputed. Immigrant advocacy groups such as El Pueblo Unido are counting at least nine deaths in Florida related to immigration arrests or ICE custody. The official number is six. The discrepancy, according to advocates, is due to the removal of dying people from detention without counting them as detainees. The main reason for the deaths is medical negligence.

In some cases, it could be—literally—broken hearts. Jodany del Rosario Arcadia, a Booker High student, helped mend some of those broken hearts Sunday night, distributing candles, helping light them and serving sweets.

The organizers brought ofrendas—small offerings of things they thought the deceased might have liked. And the vigil ended with a nutritious delight for the living: Pan de muertos—the traditional sweet baked goods—and hot chocolate.

[Music: Piensa en Mí by Flora Martínez]

[Indistinct chatter]

JW: Reporting from the troubled edge with a glimpse of the beyond, Johannes Werner.

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