Family demands an independent probe after ICE officer fatally shoots a man in Houston

HOUSTON (AP):- A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the U.S. and was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was working toward securing legal status in the U.S. and knew what to do if stopped by ICE, his son said.

Federal officials said they were stopping the vehicle in an immigration enforcement operation. Ronaldo Salgado said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were coming to steal the tools he had used for 35 years to build homes so he could send his three American sons to college.

“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” Salgado said during a news conference.

The shooting happened Tuesday in Magnolia Park, a neighborhood that has been a hub for Houston’s Mexican American community for a century. On Wednesday night, hundreds of people marched through the neighborhood chanting “ICE out of Houston!”

Federal officials say their vehicle was rammed but don’t provide evidence

Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored commands and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. The man’s car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions.

Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen. He died at a hospital.

Three other men appeared to be detained as Salgado Araujo lay moaning on the ground, according to his son, who said one of them was his uncle.

Daniel Tirado was one of the other men in the van and called his wife briefly to say they were being followed, Tirado’s stepdaughter Juana Degollado told The Associated Press.

“What he remembers is that an ICE agent shot Lorenzo and the van door was closed,” Degollado said.

Tirado wasn’t able to contact his family until Wednesday morning, and the call lasted only five minutes, his stepdaughter said. They haven’t been able to get additional information from ICE or the FBI.

Jose Rojas was also detained, according to his stepdaughter Griselda Silva. The 51-year-old Mexican national had lived in the U.S. for decades without legal status or a criminal record, she said.

ICE has not released the names of the people detained.

Federal officials have not released video or images of the shooting or the vehicles. Salgado on Tuesday joined civil rights groups and Democratic officials in urging federal authorities to release all the footage and other information it has on the shooting.

In several other shootings involving federal officers, initial descriptions by immigration officials have sometimes been contradicted later by video evidence.

The federal crackdown has created a country where officers think they can “shoot and explain later,” League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said.

The league offered a $5,000 reward for information and videos from witnesses. Ronaldo Salgado and several civil rights organizations called for an independent investigation. Some begged anyone with videos to not turn them over to ICE.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo’s family and the community deserve the truth, but federal authorities are exclusively handling the investigation.

ICE and DHS representatives have not responded to repeated requests for additional comment Wednesday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin took over the department in March aiming to keep it away from the controversies that marked the tenure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

The shooting was at least the eighth death resulting from an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Ronaldo Salgado said his mother was told something bad had happened to his dad around 7 a.m. Tuesday. After frantically looking for him at his job site and finding his empty van, he saw a video.

“I recognized him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” Salgado said.

Salgado Araujo met his wife as a teenager in Mexico. She made his lunch before he left for the day. He would listen to music and pet his dog on his porch, Salgado said.

Salgado said his dad had started the process of obtaining his work permit.

“We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment,” Salgado said. “He was close to obtaining his legal status.”

Salgado Araujo had biometric scan and fingerprints done earlier this year and had carefully studied what to do if ICE pulled him over.

“Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about a law enforcement agency, my father would have complied,” his son said.

Crowd marches in Houston, and Mexico’s president criticizes the killing

On Wednesday night, a large crowd marched through the city’s streets, with some waving Mexican flags or holding a banner that said “Abolish ICE,” while others held signs with Salgado Araujo’s face on it.

The crowd started feet from where Salgado Araujo was shot and held a ceremony in his memory and prayer. They also filmed a video for his family of the crowd chanting, “You’re not alone!” Garcia announced that she and other lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday to DHS demanding answers.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that the country is “preparing legal measures” over the killing of Salgado Araujo because “we cannot allow the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters in the United States.”

In April, Sheinbaum expressed concern about the deaths of Mexican nationals in U.S. immigration detention, saying her government would support lawsuits filed by detainees over poor conditions or by the families of those who died. She raised the detainees’ deaths to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and said she was considering an appeal to the United Nations.