Man fatally shot by federal officer in Houston was not ICE target, DHS says

"After receiving a credible tip from our law enforcement partners, our officers conducted surveillance on a target's address. Weeks prior to the incident, they noted two white vans at the property," the official said. "On July 7, officers were almost at the target's address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop."

The Harris County Medical Examiner has listed Lorenzo Salgado's death as a homicide. The primary cause of death was "penetrating gunshot wound of the torso," according to the office.

Salgado Araujo allegedly didn't follow verbal commands, according to ICE, and the agency alleged that Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle" and tried to run over an officer during the stop, prompting the officer to fire their weapon "in self-defense."

Earlier Thursday, DHS said the ICE officers involved in the incident had not been issued body-worn cameras.

"My dad had no criminal history," Ronaldo Salgado, 29, one of Salgado Araujo's three sons, told ABC News on Thursday. "My dad, you know, wasn't doing anything illegal. He was picking up his workers to go to work."

Salgado Araujo, who had been in the U.S. for nearly 35 years, was undocumented, according to ICE.

Three men, including Salgado Araujo's brother, who were in the van being driven by Salgado Araujo were detained in the incident, according to the Texas congress members, who asked for an update on their current status in their letter to the DHS and ICE leaders.

[The other passengers have disputed ICE's claim that the driver was trying to run over officers.]

“They’re being pressured to sign self-deportation orders,” Proaño told me. “They’re currently in detention. These men hold the key to what actually happened.” Under self-deportation, detained migrants agree to leave the country voluntarily within a prescribed time period.

A big question now, says Radley Balko, a criminal justice reform expert who writes about ICE abuses on his Substack, is whether these men are advised by lawyers to speak out about what they saw. (Proaño told TNR he doesn’t believe they have legal representation yet.)

“You don’t pressure witnesses to a shooting to self-deport if your goal is to get to the bottom of what happened,” Balko said. “You pressure them to self-deport when you want to make sure that nobody learns what actually happened.”

Videos that capture the minutes leading up to and immediately after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Houston early Tuesday morning show agents aggressively following a white work van and then approaching the vehicle on foot.

Security camera footage from nearby businesses and residences, obtained and analyzed by The Washington Post, provides a nearly continuous, six-minute-long view of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s van as he is pursued by federal agents. But the agents were not wearing body cameras, and the videos do not clearly capture the moment an ICE agent fires his gun shortly before 7 a.m. local time — a finding that may complicate any investigation into whether ICE personnel were justified in using deadly force against Salgado Araujo.

The videos show federal officers in two unmarked SUVs following him closely, at one point cutting off his van and driving on the wrong side of the street toward it. The videos do not appear to show Salgado Araujo ramming a vehicle, but at times, the van and the SUVs are partially obscured from camera view by buildings and trees.

wing2000 said:

ICE Ordered to Cease Most Vehicle Stops After 2 Killings in a Week

The Trump administration has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to halt most vehicle stops while carrying out operations across the country, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about the directive.

The order comes after ICE officers killed two people over the past week in Houston and the coastal city of Biddeford, Maine, amid a recent surge in immigration arrests. Both were shot after agents tried to stop their vehicles, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

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A few broken eggs are part of the process. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Trump says ICE won't halt traffic stops after recent fatal shootings​

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said federal immigration agents won't end vehicle stops, one day after officials announced a ‌temporary pause in such stops after agents fatally shot two men in ‌Texas and Maine.

"We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!" Trump wrote in a social media post.

At least seven people have been shot dead ‌during federal immigration enforcement operations since January 2025, when Trump launched mass deportations after returning to office following campaign promises of an immigration crackdown.

Federal judge orders release of witness to Houston ICE shooting​

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison issued the order releasing Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego on Monday, one week after blocking the federal government from deporting him.

Since the shooting, Rojas Pliego has been in custody "without an individualized bond determination."

“Given the severity of this ongoing unconstitutional deprivation of Petitioner’s liberty, the Court concludes that immediate release from custody is required,” Judge Ellison wrote in his order.