ICE Officer Kills 52-Year-Old Mexican Man During Houston Traffic Stop

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, in Houston on July 7 during an attempted traffic stop. Salgado Araujo was driving a white van with three other men inside when the shooting took place. The three men were detained by ICE after the incident.

Salgado Araujo had lived in the United States for more than 35 years and had no criminal record. Three men who were in the van told attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra that the officer fired through a passenger window and that no officer faced a threat. Images of the van after the shooting showed no damage, Balderas-Ibarra said.

DHS said officers were acting on a tip received weeks earlier about two white vans at a target address and saw someone inside Salgado Araujo’s van who resembled the person they sought. The department has released no evidence that Salgado Araujo ignored commands or rammed an ICE vehicle. ICE detained the three other men in the van, including Salgado Araujo’s brother.

Acting ICE Director David Venturella told Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia that officers believed someone in the van other than Salgado Araujo had a final order of removal. The ICE vehicles were unmarked and had no lights, Garcia said. The officers were not wearing body cameras, and ICE and DHS have not released photos, videos, or other evidence from the scene.

Immigration arrests nationwide reached 10,000 over a five-day period before July 10. Juana Degollado said ICE is pressuring the detained men, including her stepfather Daniel Tirado Pantoja, to self-deport. DHS stated on July 10 that the allegations are categorically false.

“After speaking with these men, I have no doubt that what they’re saying is the truth,” Balderas-Ibarra said at a news conference. Garcia asked what anyone would do if followed by unmarked vehicles.