An ICE officer fatally shot Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo about 6:50 a.m. Tuesday in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to carry out an immigration arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said.
DHS said officers were trying to arrest Salgado Araujo and accused him of trying to evade arrest. "From information we are receiving, he rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle," the agency said, and an ICE officer fired his weapon "in self-defense," striking the driver, who was taken to a hospital and died.
LULAC said Salgado Araujo was driving around the historically Latino neighborhood of Magnolia Park looking for day laborers when he was shot and that one of his sons witnessed the death; several witnesses took photos and videos, the organization said, and its officials said he was applying for legal citizenship status.
LULAC National President Roman Palomares said, "This is not an isolated event across the nation. We have seen a pattern of ICE involvement in shootings and excessive use of force. Each time a family is left without answers, and a community is left in fear."
LULAC CEO Juan Proaño said, "The federal government handed us a story about Renee Good, and the story fell apart moments after the video was released. Today, in Houston, we’re being handed the same story about Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in almost the same exact words. Prove it."
FBI officials said the agency sent an evidence response team from its Houston field office to the scene but clarified that the team is investigating a potential assault on a federal officer. It is not investigating the shooting, the agency said.
Houston police said they are not involved in the incident, and the mayor’s office referred all questions to Homeland Security.
The man's immigration status and the circumstances of the shooting could not immediately be verified, and in several instances initial statements from immigration enforcement agencies have been challenged by video footage or other evidence, sometimes in court.
LULAC called for an independent investigation conducted by local officials and compared the fatal shooting to previous deaths associated with immigration enforcement, including that of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
U.S. authorities confirmed late on Tuesday that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo had been fatally shot by an ICE agent during the traffic stop in Houston.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia said, "All available footage, communications, and other evidence should be preserved and reviewed as part of a full and impartial investigation." Garcia represents the Houston-area district where the shooting took place.
DHS has said Salgado Araujo was in the United States illegally, while his son, Ronaldo Salgado, told reporters his father had been in the process of obtaining an official work permit and said, "My father did not deserve this."
Local resident Juliet Martinez said she took video of the scene as she drove past, saying it showed a bloody man groaning in pain laying on the ground, handcuffed.
A small protest sprang up at the site of the shooting, and a makeshift memorial to Salgado Araujo appeared near the scene.
This is at least the eighth officer-involved shooting from ICE since the second administration of President Donald Trump began, with the victims including at least two U.S. citizens, the reporting said. The story said Trump has funneled significant resources into a surge of ICE activity, including a mass hiring drive that critics say fails to adequately train new officers, and that residents in targeted cities have described a general atmosphere of fear of arbitrary arrest or violence; the report also said ICE detention centers have been criticized for unsafe and unsanitary conditions, particularly for small children.