A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a man in Houston after he attempted to evade arrest in his vehicle during an operation Tuesday, the agency said.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, ignored commands and attempted to ram an agent who fired his weapon in self-defense. The man was targeted in an operation because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. The man’s car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.

Salgado Araujo died after being transported to a hospital, according to DHS.

The death drew immediate calls from some Democratic officials and immigrant rights groups for an independent investigation. Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who represents the neighborhood where the shooting took place, said the initial account released by federal authorities needs to be independently verified.

“All available footage, communications, and other evidence should be preserved and reviewed as part of a full and impartial investigation,” she said in a post on X.

The FBI’s Houston field office is investigating a potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer, said spokesperson Connor Hagan. In addition, representatives of the office’s evidence response team responded to the shooting at the request of DHS to process the scene, he said.

The shooting comes amid a newly intensified push by the Trump administration to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people. The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests continue and are surging.

Son says his father had been in the US for decades

Juliet Martinez said she was on her way to drop off her son at summer school early Tuesday morning in Houston when she spotted two federal officers leaning over a man on the ground. As she slowly drove by, she filmed the man bleeding and handcuffed, his leg shaking as loud groans can be heard.

The video shows a black vehicle angled towards a white van, their doors wide open, and the man lying between the two. One officer is on the phone, with his other hand on the man’s side. Nearby, other federal officers stand over at least three other men handcuffed.

Ronaldo Salgado, Salgado Araujo’s son, said in a post on Facebook that his father works in construction and was on his way to work, picking up his workers, when the shooting happened.

Salgado described his father as a hardworking Mexican man who has been in the U.S. for almost 35 years and was in the process of getting a work permit.

“My father did not deserve this,” he said.