On Friday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare expressed frustration over the lack of cooperation from federal investigators regarding the case of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Houston earlier this month. Teare revealed that his office has not received any information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the identity of the ICE agent involved in the incident.
Teare stated, “My office has reached out to DHS on several occasions after this shooting, and we haven’t received any response at all. In my two decades of law enforcement, I’ve never experienced anything like this.” His remarks were made during a congressional hearing in Houston, which was convened by members of the U.S. House Hispanic Caucus and the Homeland Security Committee, including U.S. Representative Sylvia Garcia of Houston.
When asked by Garcia if he had learned the name of the ICE agent who shot Salgado Araujo, Teare confirmed, “I can tell you definitively that DHS-OIG and ICE have not divulged the shooter’s identity to us.” This lack of transparency has sparked outrage among many Hispanic residents in Houston and beyond, with community advocates voicing concerns about ICE’s operational tactics and the perceived opacity of the Trump administration’s policies.
Teare also criticized the manner in which ICE conducted the operation that led to the shooting, as well as the FBI’s swift release of a search warrant that indicated methamphetamine may have been found in Salgado Araujo’s van. The FBI is still awaiting test results on a substance described as “crystal-like” that was discovered in the vehicle. However, attorneys for the individuals who were with Salgado Araujo argue that the substance was actually salt, intended for use in a homemade electrolyte drink due to the Texas heat.
Having spent 20 years in law enforcement, Teare noted that he had never seen a federal search warrant unsealed on the same day it was signed by a judge, raising further questions about procedural integrity.
Lorenzo Salgado, Jr., one of Salgado Araujo’s three U.S. citizen sons, also provided emotional testimony during the hearing, rejecting claims that his father had used drugs. “Anyone who knew our father would say that is absurd,” he asserted. “He did not use drugs; he abhorred them.” Salgado Jr. emphasized that had his father been aware of being pursued by ICE agents, he would have complied and stopped the vehicle, as the family had prepared for such encounters since the initiation of President Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
“My father would have stopped immediately if ICE agents had clearly identified themselves,” Salgado Jr. stated. “Instead, they approached him aggressively in two unmarked vehicles without emergency lights, which must have been terrifying.” He extended his condolences to the family of Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian immigrant who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Maine shortly after Salgado Araujo’s death, noting that ICE had claimed Durán Guerrero was not the individual they were pursuing.
ICE had previously indicated that agents stopped Salgado Araujo’s van as part of a targeted enforcement operation. However, Aaron Reitz, the newly appointed assistant attorney general for the Southern District of Texas, later clarified that ICE was actually searching for two Guatemalan men in a different van. Salgado Araujo and his companions were all Mexican citizens.
Both the FBI and DHS have withheld additional information, citing an ongoing federal investigation. Teare announced that his office would also refrain from making any details of its separate investigation public and could not provide a timeline for its completion.
During the hearing, Salgado Araujo’s sons delivered heartfelt testimonies, urging the public to maintain pressure on the Trump administration to ensure accountability for their father’s death. “Thank you for allowing us to share our father’s story today,” said Rolando Salgado. “He was not just a headline; he was a husband, a father, a brother, and a man who worked tirelessly to give his sons a better life.”
The panel at the hearing included several Democratic lawmakers, such as Joaquin Castro from San Antonio and Lizzie Fletcher, Christian Menefee, and Al Green from Houston, along with representatives from Oregon, New Jersey, and California.
