ICE accused of deportation threats after fatal Houston shooting
Advocates want DHS to release footage in the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, while DHS says agents lacked body cameras.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing questions after agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a Houston traffic stop, and The Verge reported that the agency is threatening witnesses with deportation. The case matters because three eyewitness accounts conflict with ICE’s self-defense account, while the Department of Homeland Security says there is no body-camera footage from the agents involved.
Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who owned a construction business, was killed Tuesday at about 7 a.m. while driving to a job site with three employees, according to The Verge. Advocates are calling on DHS to release body-camera video of the shooting.
DHS said the ICE officers involved were not wearing body cameras, according to The Verge. The department attributed that to a 76-day government shutdown that it said kept ICE and Customs and Border Protection from receiving additional federal funding.
The Verge reported that the shutdown followed congressional disputes over proposed DHS changes after federal agents killed two civilians earlier in the year. No body-camera video has been released in Salgado Araujo’s case, leaving the public account centered on DHS statements and eyewitness accounts described by The Verge.
ICE cites self-defense
An ICE spokesperson said Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” according to a DHS post cited by The Verge. The agency is using that account to justify the fatal shooting as self-defense, The Verge reported.
The Verge reported that three eyewitness accounts contradict ICE’s version of events. The available reporting does not identify those witnesses by name or provide their full accounts.
The allegation that ICE is threatening witnesses with deportation adds another layer to the dispute over what happened during the traffic stop. The Verge reported the deportation threats in connection with witnesses to the shooting, but did not provide further detail in the publicly available portion of its report.
Calls for transparency
Advocates are pressing DHS to release any available footage or records tied to the shooting, according to The Verge. DHS’s position that the agents did not have body cameras narrows the evidence available to assess competing accounts.
The Verge also linked the case to earlier DHS shootings, reporting that the department has accused victims of attacking agents in other incidents, including cases involving Renée Good and Alex Pretti. In some prior cases, The Verge reported, video evidence later contradicted DHS statements.
No independent official finding on Salgado Araujo’s shooting was described in the available reporting. For now, the public record consists of DHS’s self-defense claim, The Verge’s reporting on conflicting eyewitness accounts, and demands from advocates for more evidence.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.