Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man in his early 50s who lived in the United States for about 35 years, is fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Houston on July 7 while he is reportedly on his way to work at a construction site. His family says he was the father of three and leaves behind a wife and three children. At a news conference in Houston, two of his sons, Ronaldo Salgado and Lorenzo “Lorenzo Jr.” Salgado, describe their grief and call for a fully independent and transparent investigation. They say they learned of his death from news reports and a video posted online, and that there is no public video showing what happened during the shooting.
The Department of Homeland Security says the agent was conducting a “targeted enforcement operation” and that Salgado “weaponized his vehicle” in an attempt to run over an officer, prompting the fatal shooting. The family disputes that characterization and argues Salgado would have complied if he had known he was dealing with federal immigration agents. Human Rights Watch points to recent concerns and disputed accounts in other federal immigration-agent shooting cases and urges both federal and local investigators to examine whether use-of-force policies were followed.
