After a federal immigration officer shot and killed a man in Houston, his son is speaking out.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on Tuesday morning shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen who had lived in the United States for decades, on his way to work. In a social media statement released the same night, Araujo’s son said his “hardworking” father came to the U.S. from Mexico and was working through the legal process to remain here.
“My father has been in this country for nearly 35 years, working in construction to provide for myself, my two brothers, and my mother. He was in the process of obtaining his work permit through the legal process,” Ronaldo Salgado said on Facebook. “He was on his way to work, picking up his workers. My father did not deserve this.”
Speaking with Houston Public Media, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said Araujo attempted to evade arrest during a “targeted enforcement operation.”
“From information we are receiving, he rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense,” the unnamed DHS spokesperson said.
Federal officials offered a similar explanation after immigration agents killed San Antonio man Ruben Ray Martinez, though eyewitness and video evidence later appeared to contradict that narrative. Martinez was the first U.S. citizen to die at the hands of ICE agents under the second Trump administration.
Immigration officials also used “vehicle weaponization” in their attempt to justify the shooting death of Minneapolis protester Renee Good, though video evidence later cast doubt on the agency’s claim of self-defense in that incident as well.
Araujo was transported to a Houston hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to Houston Public Media.
The fatal incident occurred in Magnolia Park, in a predominantly Latino part of Houston.
Civil rights groups such as Fiel Houston, Texas Civil Rights Project and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) have spoken out, demanding a transparent, independent investigation by federal and local authorities.
“What we’re demanding at LULAC is to preserve and release all evidence: body cam, dash cam, bystander video, dispatch logs, everything that would be available to us and should be available to the community to conduct this investigation,” LULAC President Ramon Palomares told reporters in a virtual press conference Tuesday evening.
“This is not an isolated event across the nation,” Palomares said. “We have seen a pattern of ICE involvement in shootings and excessive use of force. Each time, a family is left without answers and a community is left in fear.”
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