Calls for an independent investigation intensified Wednesday after a Mexican construction worker was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during an enforcement operation in Houston, with family members, civil rights advocates and elected officials demanding that federal authorities release video and other evidence from the encounter.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who had lived in the United States for decades and was working toward legal status, was driving a crew of construction workers to a homebuilding site Tuesday morning when he was shot. His family says he had no criminal convictions and insists he would have complied had he known the people stopping him were federal agents.
The Department of Homeland Security has said Salgado Araujo ignored commands, rammed an ICE vehicle and attempted to strike an officer, who fired in self-defense during the immigration enforcement operation. Federal officials have not publicly released body-camera footage, surveillance video or photographs from the shooting.
His family and civil rights groups are questioning that account and are urging authorities to make all available evidence public.
“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE,” his son, Ronaldo Salgado, said during a news conference. “He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream.”
According to Ronaldo Salgado, his father may have believed the unmarked vehicles following him belonged to thieves attempting to steal the construction tools he had relied on for 35 years. He said his father had carefully prepared for the possibility of an ICE stop while seeking legal status.
“Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that said anything about a law enforcement agency, my father would have complied,” he said.
Houston firefighters said Salgado Araujo was shot in the abdomen. He later died at a hospital.
Three other men riding in the van were detained following the shooting, according to relatives.
Daniel Tirado, one of the passengers, briefly called his wife to say they were being followed before the shooting, his stepdaughter, Juana Degollado, told The Associated Press. After his detention, Tirado was unable to contact his family again until Wednesday morning.
“What he remembers is that an ICE agent shot Lorenzo and the van door was closed,” Degollado said.
Another passenger, Jose Rojas, also was detained, according to his stepdaughter. She said the 51-year-old Mexican national had lived in the United States for decades without legal status and had no criminal record.
ICE has not publicly identified the detained men or released additional details about the operation.
The lack of publicly available evidence has become a central point of criticism.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions and joined calls for federal authorities to release all available video and investigative material. Garcia said she and other lawmakers sent a letter to DHS demanding answers about the shooting.
Civil rights organizations also questioned whether federal authorities should be allowed to investigate themselves.
League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said the federal immigration crackdown has created an environment where officers believe they can “shoot and explain later.”
The organization announced a $5,000 reward for witnesses willing to provide photographs or video of the shooting. Salgado Araujo’s family and advocacy groups urged anyone with footage to preserve it as potential evidence and called for an independent investigation rather than one conducted solely by federal agencies.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo’s family and the Houston community deserve answers but noted that federal authorities have exclusive jurisdiction over the investigation.
ICE and DHS did not respond Wednesday to repeated requests for additional comment beyond the department’s initial statement describing the shooting as an act of self-defense.
The shooting occurred in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood, a historic center of the city’s Mexican American community. By Wednesday evening, hundreds of people marched through the neighborhood chanting “ICE out of Houston!” while carrying Mexican flags, signs bearing Salgado Araujo’s photograph and banners calling for the agency’s abolition.
The march began near the site where Salgado Araujo was shot. Participants held a prayer service, created a memorial and recorded a message for his family, chanting, “You’re not alone.”
Ronaldo Salgado said his family learned something had happened to his father early Tuesday morning and frantically searched for him before discovering his empty work van. He later watched video recorded after the shooting.
“I recognized him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” he said.
His son said Salgado Araujo had completed biometric screening and fingerprinting as part of his efforts to obtain legal status in the United States and had complied with every requirement in the process.
“We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment,” Salgado said. “He was close to obtaining his legal status.”
The fatal shooting is at least the eighth death linked to encounters with federal immigration officers since the Trump administration intensified immigration enforcement, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
The case has also drawn international attention. Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that Mexico is preparing legal measures over Salgado Araujo’s death, saying her government “cannot allow the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters in the United States.”
As investigators continue reviewing the shooting, Salgado Araujo’s family says the most urgent step is the public release of any video that could establish exactly what happened in the moments before the fatal gunfire.
