The recent fatal shooting of a 52-year-old Houston man by an immigration agent has ignited a heated debate regarding the circumstances surrounding the event. The three men who were with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo assert that he never attempted to run over anyone and that agents fired multiple shots into the vehicle from the side, as stated by an attorney representing two of the men during a news conference on Friday.
Hugo Balderas Ibarra, an immigration attorney advocating for two of the passengers in Salgado Araujo’s van, revealed that he spoke with the three men at a detention center where they are currently being held pending deportation. “My clients made it clear that at no point was there an agent positioned in front of the vehicle, nor was anyone placed in danger,” Balderas Ibarra said. “That assertion is simply not true, and I firmly believe my clients are being honest.”
Balderas Ibarra and U.S. Representative Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, expressed concerns that the account provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not align with the testimonies given by the eyewitnesses. An ICE spokesperson had previously claimed that agents attempted to stop Salgado Araujo’s van as part of a “targeted enforcement” operation, alleging that he used his vehicle in an attempt to run over an officer, which prompted the agent to fire in self-defense.
“That is a lie,” Jose Trinidad Rojas, one of the passengers, asserted in a handwritten statement shared with media outlets. “It is inconceivable for them to claim that they were in danger of being run over… There were no officers in front of or behind the vehicle; they were on the sides.”
This tragic incident has intensified scrutiny of ICE’s operations on American streets. During the Trump administration, the agency was tasked with arresting 2,000 individuals daily as part of a broader crackdown on immigration. With fewer people attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, the focus has shifted to interior enforcement.
Since Trump’s return to office in January 2025, at least two individuals, including a U.S. citizen, have lost their lives at the hands of ICE agents in Texas. An analysis of federal detainee death notifications and media reports reveals that at least 14 others have died in federal detention facilities in Texas since that time.
Nationwide, at least ten individuals, including Salgado Araujo, have died due to encounters with immigration agents since January 2025, as per an analysis conducted by The Guardian. In several cases, video evidence has contradicted the initial narratives provided by officials from the Trump administration.
Given the circumstances, Garcia, Balderas Ibarra, and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare called for an independent law enforcement agency to investigate the shooting to ascertain whether it was justified. “My investigators and civil rights division have been on the scene since day one, gathering surveillance footage and speaking with witnesses to ensure a thorough investigation is conducted for transparency with our community,” Teare stated.
Teare encouraged anyone with footage related to the incident to share it with his office. He acknowledged that while his office is committed to investigating the shooting, cooperation from federal investigators may be limited if they withhold evidence.
During a recent call, acting ICE Director David Venturella informed Garcia that agents did not possess body-worn or dashboard cameras at the time of the incident. He also stated that neither Salgado Araujo nor his brother, Victor Salgado, who was also in the van, were the intended targets of the operation. However, The New York Times reported that none of the individuals ICE was pursuing were present in the van.
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement indicating that a tip led ICE to follow Salgado Araujo’s van. “After receiving credible information from our law enforcement partners, our officers conducted surveillance on a target’s address,” the DHS statement explained. “Weeks prior, they noted two white vans at the location. On July 7, officers saw a white van with an individual resembling the target and initiated a stop.”
Garcia expressed skepticism about the details of the tip-off, claiming that this information had not been disclosed to her previously. “I’m not ready to declare everything they say is a lie, but it certainly raises questions,” Garcia remarked.
Balderas Ibarra refrained from divulging the complete accounts provided by the men due to the ongoing investigation, but indicated they were heading to a construction site after purchasing ice and water around 6:30 a.m. The men reported noticing an unmarked vehicle tailing them at a stoplight. As Salgado Araujo accelerated when the light turned green, the pursuing vehicle maneuvered onto the shoulder, accelerated, and cut in front of the van, according to Balderas Ibarra’s recounting.
Salgado Araujo then executed a U-turn, at which point the agents activated the lights on their unmarked vehicle. Witnesses claim that Salgado Araujo was traveling at a mere 5 miles per hour when agents collided with his work van. “Lorenzo thought we had lost them, but suddenly they surrounded us,” Rojas described in his statement.
An ICE agent exited the unmarked vehicle, shouted “Stop,” and then opened fire from the passenger side of the van, striking Salgado Araujo in the abdomen. The van came to a halt, but officers continued to fire multiple rounds into the vehicle.
Victor Salgado recounted, “When he shot my brother, the gun was right in front of my face.” Rojas detailed how the agents forcefully removed Salgado Araujo from the van, threw him to the ground, and restrained the other passengers while Salgado Araujo pleaded for help as he bled out. “It all happened so quickly,” Salgado lamented.
“They are good people who did not deserve this,” Balderas Ibarra asserted. “They were compliant and not resisting.”
In a related development, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced plans to file complaints with both state prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as pursue civil actions against the operators of detention centers. This move comes in response to conditions that the ministry claims led to the deaths of 14 Mexican nationals in U.S. custody. Previously, the Mexican government had sent diplomatic notes of protest in reaction to the deaths of its citizens during encounters with ICE.
“Our aim is to go beyond mere diplomatic notes and the measures we’ve previously raised with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated. “They respond to us, but then we face another tragic death of one of our nationals in the United States related to detention, simply for lacking legal immigration documents, even when they were employed by a U.S. company. We cannot tolerate this mistreatment.”
