Houston man killed by ICE was not intended target, DHS confirms

Details of the incident

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States for 35 years, was killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday morning. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), he was not the intended target of the enforcement operation. The agents were reportedly seeking two individuals from Guatemala.

Salgado Araujo was driving a white van with three other people on his way to work. After the shooting, the three men were taken into custody. One of them, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, has been identified as the victim’s brother and remains in an immigration detention center.

Sequence of events

A DHS official stated that officers had received a tip about their target's address and had previously observed two white vans at that property. On July 7, officers were near the target's address when they spotted a white van with an individual resembling the target. The official’s statement does not clarify the subsequent events. Salgado Araujo died in the hospital after being shot in the abdomen. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras.

ICE agents claimed that Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer," prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. However, no evidence has been provided to support this account. The agency has used similar defenses in other high-profile incidents, such as the deaths of Renee Good in Minneapolis and two Venezuelan men in Oregon, where video evidence contradicted the claims.

Investigation and reaction

The death will be investigated by the DHS inspector general’s office. Ronaldo Salgado, the victim’s son, said at a press conference: “He did not deserve to die.” He expressed outrage that no one in the van was a target of any investigation. This incident marks the 10th fatal shooting by federal immigration officials since the start of the second Trump administration, according to a Guardian review.