The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Houston this week, was not the intended target of the enforcement operation. The admission came in a statement provided to the Guardian by an unnamed DHS official on Thursday.
Victim was not the target
According to the New York Times, ICE agents were seeking two individuals from Guatemala when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo, who had lived in the United States for 35 years. Salgado Araujo was driving a white van with three other passengers early on Tuesday morning on his way to work. After the shooting, the three men were taken into custody. One of them has been identified by advocates as Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, the victim's brother, who remains in an immigration detention center.
The DHS official stated that officers had received a tip from law enforcement partners about the target's address and had previously observed two white vans at that property. "On July 7, officers were almost at the target's address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target," the official said. The statement does not clarify the sequence of events that led to the fatal shooting.
Circumstances of the shooting
Salgado Araujo died in the hospital after being shot in the abdomen, according to local law enforcement accounts. The officers involved were not wearing body cameras, the DHS confirmed. 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 "his weapon in self-defense." However, no evidence was provided to corroborate this account.
This justification mirrors defenses used by the agency in other high-profile incidents, including the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the shooting of two Venezuelan men in Oregon earlier this year. In both cases, video evidence contradicted the agency's description of events.
Family and community reaction
Ronaldo Salgado, the son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, expressed outrage at a press conference on Wednesday. "He did not deserve to die," he said. After learning his father was not originally being sought by federal agents, Ronaldo Salgado told the New York Times, "This is outrageous to me, and this is ridiculous to hear that no one in that van was a target of any sort of investigation."
Salgado Araujo's death marks the 10th fatal shooting by federal immigration officials nationwide since the second Trump administration took office, according to a review of public reports by the Guardian. The DHS inspector general's office will investigate the incident.
