{"id":50580,"date":"2026-07-08T22:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/50580\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:24:34","slug":"ice-shooting-in-houston-prompts-calls-for-an-independent-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/50580\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE shooting in Houston prompts calls for an independent probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 A Mexican national fatally shot<\/a> by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the U.S. and was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was working toward securing legal status in the U.S. and knew what to do if stopped by ICE<\/a>, his son said.<\/p>\n

Federal officials said they were stopping the vehicle in an immigration enforcement operation. Ronaldo Salgado said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were coming to steal the tools he had used for 35 years to build homes, from sunrise to sunset, so he could send his three American sons to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. 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,\u201d Salgado said during a news conference.<\/p>\n

The shooting happened Tuesday in Magnolia Park, a neighborhood that has been a hub for Houston\u2019s Mexican American community for a century.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/p>\n

Ronaldo Salgado and Lorenzo Jr., sons of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, hold a photograph of their father during a news conference Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

Ronaldo Salgado and Lorenzo Jr., sons of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, hold a photograph of their father during a news conference Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

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Federal officials say their vehicle was rammed but don\u2019t provide evidence<\/p>\n

Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored commands and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. The man\u2019s car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.<\/p>\n

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions. <\/p>\n

Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen. He died at a hospital.<\/p>\n

Three other men appeared to be detained as Salgado Araujo lay moaning on the ground, according to his son, who said one of them was his uncle.<\/p>\n

Daniel Tirado was one of the other men in the van and called his wife briefly to say they were being followed, Tirado\u2019s stepdaughter Juana Degollado told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he remembers is that an ICE agent shot Lorenzo and the van door was closed,\u201d Juana Degollado said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Tirado wasn\u2019t able to contact his family until Wednesday morning, and the call lasted only five minutes, his stepdaughter said. They haven\u2019t been able to get additional information from ICE or the FBI.<\/p>\n

ICE has not released the names of the people detained.<\/p>\n

Federal officials have not released video or images of the shooting or the vehicles. Salgado on Tuesday joined civil rights groups and Democratic officials in urging federal authorities to release all the footage and other information it has on the shooting.<\/p>\n

In several other shootings<\/a> involving federal officers, initial descriptions by immigration officials have sometimes been contradicted<\/a> later by video evidence.<\/a><\/p>\n

Civil rights groups say ICE can\u2019t be trusted with the investigation<\/p>\n

The federal crackdown has created a country where officers think they can \u201cshoot an d explain later,\u201d League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said.<\/p>\n

The league offered a $5,000 reward for information and videos from witnesses. Ronaldo Salgado and several civil rights organizations called for an independent investigation. Some begged anyone with videos to not turn them over to ICE, which they said could destroy them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A makeshift memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer Tuesday, is shown Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

A makeshift memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer Tuesday, is shown Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

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Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo\u2019s family and the community deserve the truth, but federal authorities are exclusively handling the investigation.<\/p>\n

ICE and DHS representatives have not responded to repeated requests for additional comment Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin<\/a> took over the department in March aiming to keep it away from the controversies that marked the tenure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The shooting was at least the eighth death resulting from an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n

Son says his father worked hard for decades<\/p>\n

Ronaldo Salgado said his mother was told something bad had happened to his dad around 7 a.m. Tuesday. After frantically looking for him at his job site and finding his empty van, he saw a video.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognized him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,\u201d Salgado said.<\/p>\n

Salgado Araujo met his wife as a teenager in Mexico. She made his lunch before he left for the day and had a hearty meal ready when he came home. He would listen to music and pet his dog on his porch, Salgado said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit,\u201d Salgado said. \u201cWe dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment. He was close to obtaining his legal status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salgado Araujo had biometric scan and fingerprints done earlier this year and had carefully studied what to do if ICE pulled him over. If he was speeding away, it was probably because he feared having his tools stolen, his son said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about a law enforcement agency, my father would have complied,\u201d his son said.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s president criticizes the killing<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Lorenzo<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado Jr., son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, holds a family photograph during a news conference Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado Jr., son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, holds a family photograph during a news conference Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)<\/p>\n

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Mexico is \u201cpreparing legal measures\u201d over the killing of Salgado Araujo because \u201cwe cannot allow the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters in the United States,\u201d Mexico\u2019s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday. <\/p>\n

In April, Sheinbaum expressed concern about the deaths of Mexican nationals in U.S. immigration detention, saying her government would support lawsuits filed by detainees over poor conditions or by the families of those who died. She raised the detainees\u2019 deaths to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and said she was considering an appeal to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Brook reported from New Orleans and Collins from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press reporters Hallie Golden in Seattle; Gisela Salomon in Miami; Rebecca Santana in Washington, D.C.; and Ryan J. Foley in Omaha contributed.<\/p>\n

___ <\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show Sheinbaum\u2019s comments about possibly approaching the U.N. were made in April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[219,2037,2709,27800,38,50,439,8,224,366,72,161,27798,247,218,27797,617,215,475,9,67,1577,1060,27796,27801,436,27799,360,7,761,480,54,106],"class_list":["post-50580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-central-america","tag-civil-rights","tag-claudia-sheinbaum","tag-daniel-tirado","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-gun-violence","tag-headlines","tag-homicide","tag-houston","tag-human-rights","tag-immigration","tag-juana-degollado","tag-kristi-noem","tag-latin-america","tag-lorenzo-salgado-araujo","tag-markwayne-mullin","tag-mexico","tag-minnesota-ice-crackdown","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-prisons","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-ronaldo-salgado","tag-sean-teare","tag-shootings","tag-sylvia-garcia","tag-texas","tag-top-stories","tag-tx-state-wire","tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-u-s-news","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}