No body cameras, contradictory stories: Questions linger over fatal ICE shooting in Houston

No body cameras, contradictory stories: Questions linger over fatal ICE shooting in Houston - Click here to listen to this article - Share via See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred - The Department of Homeland Security alleges Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and tried to run over an officer. - Three men who were riding with Salgado Araujo dispute the government’s account and say no agent was ever in danger. - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vows to seek criminal charges in U.S. courts over the deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE operations. WASHINGTON — The fatal shooting this week of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant and homebuilder who was driving his construction crew to a Houston job site, is at least the eighth such death amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. The death of Salgado Araujo, a husband and father of three U.S. citizens who had been in the country for 35 years, led to protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation. Advocates for immigrants called attention to the fact that his death hasn’t resulted in the widespread anger that roiled the country after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Federal officers were looking for someone else when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo’s vehicle, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The department alleges that he rammed an ICE vehicle, refused to follow commands and attempted to run over an ICE officer, causing the officer to open fire in self-defense. But the three passengers in his vehicle — one of whom is Salgado Araujo’s brother — who were detained and taken to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, disputed ICE’s account. During a news conference Friday, their attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said they each told him that “at no point was there ever an agent standing in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger.” Salgado Araujo’s family said he might not have known the people in unmarked vehicles were ICE officers and instead thought they were going to steal his tools. The death marks at least the eighth fatal shooting by federal immigration officers nationwide since Trump took office. No federal officers have been charged in the deaths. “I saw a video posted on Facebook that he had been shot,” his eldest son, Ronaldo Salgado, said during a news conference in Texas on Wednesday. “I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance but from his voice, crying for help as he lay on the street bleeding out.” A walking journey through south Minneapolis connects the memorials for George Floyd, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, revealing how grief, art and community resistance continue to shape a city marked by police and immigration enforcement violence. A Homeland Security official said in a statement that officers were nearing the address of a target on Tuesday when they saw a white van and someone inside who looked like the person they were seeking. Weeks before, they had noticed two white vans at the target’s property. After some past shootings by immigration officers, including those in Minneapolis of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, federal officials’ accounts that the officers acted in self-defense have been contradicted by video evidence. In this case, Homeland Security said the officers involved were not wearing body cameras. The department blamed Democrats for the lack of cameras, saying the record government shutdown, triggered by their opposition to the immigration crackdown, delayed the purchase of new equipment. A Homeland Security spokesperson said body cameras have been deployed to more than half of field offices and the remaining half should receive them in the next two months. A video taken by bystander Juliet Martinez shows what happened after the shooting. In it, a black SUV is pointed toward a white van, its door flung open. Federal officers stand over a man with a bloody shirt who is handcuffed face down, moaning in pain as his left foot shakes. Additional officers stand over three other handcuffed men. Salgado Araujo was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries. Homeland Security confirmed the department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating. The FBI’s Houston office said it is leading an investigation into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer. Salgado Araujo’s death provoked outrage in Mexico, where government officials this week called on U.S. prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the case. “We extend our full support and solidarity to families who have lost a loved one or have a relative in detention — people whose only offense... is working honestly in the United States,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference Thursday. Mexico has lodged formal complaints about the treatment of migrants in the U.S. with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said Mexican Foreign Minister Robert Velasco. He also said Mexico has sent cease-and-desist letters to private immigrant detention centers, calling for improvement of conditions that Mexico believes has led to the deaths of multiple immigrants. Wilber Urbina Garcia was detained by ICE a day after his high school graduation. He spent the next 16 days in detention, anxious over his future in the country and his mother’s well-being. Homeland Security said it would not release the name of the officer who shot Salgado Araujo. The department did not say how long the officer has worked for ICE or whether any of the officers involved have been placed on leave. Salgado Araujo’s son said his father had started his own business, had no criminal record and was close to obtaining legal status. Salgado said his father was a routine-oriented family man who left for work early and loved to end the day sitting on his porch, listening to music and petting his dog. “That’s how I want the world to know my father,” Salgado said. “Not as someone who got shot and killed, but as a family man, a man who understood that good things come to those who put in hard work.” Other deaths include 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, who was killed by an ICE agent in Texas who fired repeatedly through the open window of his car, and Keith Porter, 43, who was killed in Los Angeles by an off-duty ICE agent after shooting his gun into the air on New Year’s Eve. Balderas-Ibarra, the attorney, said Friday that his clients “will forever be physically and emotionally scarred by this killing.” He called for their release from the detention center, saying he is concerned that they will be pressured into signing documents consenting to their removal from the country. “We know ICE has a pattern ... of deporting immigrants before they can be heard, before they are given due process,” he said. A settlement announced this week now affirms that private immigrant detention facilities are subject to California’s workplace safety and health requirements. Harris County Dist. Atty. Sean Teare said his office is investigating the incident. He said his investigators weren’t allowed by federal officials onto the scene Tuesday but have since been given access to the site. “When someone in our community loses their life at the hands of law enforcement, that is the ultimate breach of trust,” he said. “And if we aren’t transparent, if the people don’t believe that we are actively investigating and holding ourselves in law enforcement accountable, we will lose that trust so quickly. And that’s what you’re seeing right now.” Times staff writer Kate Linthicum in Mexico City and the Associated Press contributed to this report.