Three men who were traveling with Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on July 7, 2026 contradict the account given by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding the operation in which the 52-year-old construction contractor was fatally shot in Houston, Texas.
Salgado Araujo had lived in the United States for more than 35 years, had no criminal record, and was in the final stage of his immigration regularization process. On Tuesday, July 7, he was driving his work crew to a job site when ICE agents in unmarked vehicles attempted to detain him. Salgado Araujo was not the target of the operation, as confirmed by Representative Sylvia García, Democrat of Texas, after speaking with the agency's acting director. The official ICE account, reported by El Financiero on July 11, holds that the driver ignored agents' orders and rammed an official vehicle, prompting an agent to open fire in self-defense.
According to attorney Hugo Balderas Ibarra, who represents the three occupants of the vehicle (including the victim's brother), the witnesses state that "no agent was in front of the truck or in any danger." The attorney said that after hearing their testimonies, he has no doubt that what they say is the truth. The three men remain in detention at an immigration facility in Conroe, Texas. The agents involved were not wearing body cameras. The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating the case, while the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is offering a $5,000 reward for video evidence. The Harris County medical examiner classified the death as a homicide.
This case is a new development within the formal complaints that the Mexican government filed on July 10 regarding the deaths of Mexican nationals in U.S. immigration custody. Salgado Araujo's family, gathered at a memorial in Houston, demanded an independent investigation, as reported by El Universal on July 12. Attorney Balderas Ibarra warned that deporting the three witnesses before they can testify would compromise the investigation.
This article was written with artificial intelligence assistance based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.