Witnesses Dispute ICE Account of Fatal Houston Shooting, Say Officers Were Never in Danger

Two men who were passengers in a van driven by 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo have submitted sworn statements to federal court contradicting the Department of Homeland Security’s justification for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s fatal shooting on July 7 in Houston. The witnesses assert that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents were positioned to the sides of the vehicle at no point during the encounter and that the government’s self-defense claim is inaccurate.

Salgado Araujo, a homebuilder without legal status who had resided in the United States for 35 years, was killed in front of his construction crew that morning. The Department of Homeland Security initially stated the officer fired after Salgado Araujo attempted to run over the agent with his vehicle, characterizing it as a weaponization of the van.

Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego and Daniel Tirado Pantoja, the two passengers, detailed in their habeas corpus petitions that ICE agents began pursuing their van before cornering it. Tirado Pantoja wrote that the ICE vehicle struck their van from behind and on the driver’s side, contradicting DHS claims that Salgado Araujo rammed the officers’ vehicles.

According to Tirado Pantoja’s account, Salgado Araujo had placed the vehicle in park as agents opened fire. Rojas Pliego characterized the government’s account as “a lie” and “impossible,” noting no officers stood in front of or behind the van during the shooting.

Both passengers reported that officers then pulled the wounded driver from the vehicle, handcuffed him, and threw him to the ground. The three men accompanying Salgado Araujo were subsequently arrested and remain in immigration detention facilities while their legal petitions proceed through federal court.

Salgado Araujo’s death marks at least the tenth fatality during immigration enforcement operations since President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign began. The incident has prompted extensive Houston protests and demands for independent investigation, as the officers involved were not wearing body cameras and no video footage has emerged publicly.

U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz for the Southern District of Texas announced last week that his office, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and state and local law enforcement are conducting a full investigation. The DHS Office of Inspector General is also examining the shooting, with the FBI’s Houston office leading an investigation into potential assault on a federal officer.

Federal judges have issued orders restricting the government’s ability to deport or transfer the two passengers from the district without court notification. Both men have applied for visas designed to protect crime victims who cooperate with law enforcement, citing they survived aggravated assault with a deadly weapon during the incident.