Texas Immigration Lawyer Facing Felony Assault Charge Represents Passengers in ICE Shooting Case

Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, an immigration lawyer in private practice in Texas, is out on a $20,000 bond on a felony assault family violence by impeding breathing charge from a 2024 incident, according to a Harris County District Court charging document reported by Fox News.

The charge stems from an argument with a woman with whom he had a dating relationship. The victim told investigators that after she saw something on his phone and packed her belongings, Balderas-Ibarra took the luggage and later threw it on the ground at the airport.

When she went to retrieve it, he grabbed her by the neck with his left hand, held her for several seconds, and squeezed harder and twisted her throat as people approached, the document states. She reported being unable to breathe, followed by nausea, headache, and feeling faint. Photos taken by authorities showed redness and swelling on her neck.

At the time of the incident, Balderas-Ibarra was already on bail for a separate domestic violence, kidnapping, and false imprisonment charge in Seminole County, Florida, a Harris County bond motion shows. The State Bar of Texas website lists him as holding a probationary license to practice law in the state.

Balderas-Ibarra represents two of the three passengers who were in a van when Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston last week.

At a July 10, 2026, press conference alongside Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, he accused ICE agents of lying about the shooting and of racial profiling.

He said his clients would be physically and emotionally scarred and called for the immediate release of his clients to preserve the integrity of the investigation. Fox News reported that Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen whom authorities said was in the country illegally, was shot after ICE said he tried to ram an officer with his vehicle during a traffic stop.