Immigration authorities are asking witnesses to self-deport after a federal agent in Texas fatally shot a Mexican man who had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, according to an advocacy group supporting the men and their families.
The men who witnessed the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — his brother and two of their co-workers — spoke to their family members while in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, where officers are urging them to sign paperwork for their removal from the country, according to Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Proaño, speaking to The New Republic, said the men “hold the key to what actually happened.” He told MeidasTouch that ICE is “trying to get rid of them as witnesses.”
Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and father of three, was fatally shot by an ICE agent while on his way to work in Houston, Texas on July 7. He is at least the 10th person to die during the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement campaign, though no officers have been charged and video footage from several incidents has later contradicted official narratives.
It’s also not the first time immigration authorities have tried to remove potential crime witnesses from the country, though ICE’s alleged targeting of immigrants who witnessed a fatal shooting by one of their own officers escalates a tactic that has come under fierce congressional scrutiny.
The Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts have disrupted criminal prosecutions across the country with the removal of crime victims, defendants and witnesses in the middle of investigations and trials, according to a recent report from the House Judiciary Committee.
The administration’s “reckless, quota-driven approach to immigration enforcement is undermining public safety, due process and the rule of law while robbing victims and their families of access to justice,” the committee’s top Democrat Jamie Raskin said in a statement accompanying the report earlier this year.
Salgado Araujo had a small construction business and was working on obtaining legal status, according to his family.
After having breakfast with his wife early Tuesday morning, Salgado Arauja picked up his coworkers before heading to a construction site when ICE officers in two unmarked cars performed a traffic stop.
Video of the encounter reported on by NBC News, which does not show the shooting itself, shows several other men lying face down on the ground along with Salgado Araujo while two officers crouch over him and radio for help.
In a statement following Salgado Araujo’s death, Homeland Security claimed Araujo tried to “evade arrest” and “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.” An officer fired at him “in self-defense,” according to the agency.
Salgado Araujo, who was struck in the abdomen, was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In a statement to The Independent, Homeland Security said the agency’s Office of Inspector General was leading an investigation into the shooting while the FBI’s Houston office is leading a probe “into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”
“This is a developing situation, and we will update the public when more information is available,” the department added.
LULAC also has argued that ICE’s allegations that Salgado Araujo tried to injure officers “cannot simply be accepted at face value” and called for the release of body-worn camera footage, surveillance, radio communications and witness statements.
But the officers “had not been issued body-worn cameras” due to partial government shutdowns that the administration has blamed on congressional Democrats, according to a statement from Homeland Security.
“This is not the first time ICE has justified a shooting by claiming someone tried to run over officers, only for later evidence to prove that to be untrue,” the group noted, pointing to the prosecution of Marimar Martinez, a teacher’s assistant and U.S. citizen accused of assaulting officers with her car during the Trump administration’s surge into Chicago last year.
Agents shot Martinez five times. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges after lawyers raised critical questions about evidence used against her.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare accused federal authorities of sidelining local officials from the government’s probe while Salgado Araujo’s family and Houston-area members of Congress press for investigations.
“We are demanding the full truth, the full footage, and a real independent investigation,” Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Thursday. “Lorenzo’s family deserves answers. Houston deserves answers. And we will not let DHS or ICE bury this, stall for time, or hide behind the same tired lies.”
Salgado Araujo “dedicated his life to giving his family the American dream,” his son Ronaldo Araujo said during an emotional press conference on Wednesday.
“I learned of my father’s passing from a news report on social media, not the hospital, not law enforcement,” he said through tears. “I saw a video posted on Facebook that he had been shot. I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street, bleeding out.”
According to Proaño with LULAC, officers removed all identifying information from his body before putting him in an ambulance. He was received at hospital as a John Doe, according to his family.
The mixed-status family, with a next of kin who is undocumented, is obtaining legal support while they try to recover Salgado Araujo’s body from authorities.
“They want to plan his funeral,” Proaño told MeidasTouch.
The Independent has requested additional comment from LULAC and Homeland Security.
