The family of a man killed by a federal immigration agent in Houston is gathering Thursday evening for a public vigil, with his son saying the event was organized in response to an overwhelming wave of support from the community.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, was fatally shot last Tuesday by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer while he was transporting his construction crew to a job site in Houston. He had lived in the United States for 35 years and had no criminal record.
His son, Ronaldo Salgado, shared a message on Facebook Thursday expressing the family’s appreciation. “My family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the unbelievable and incredible support we have received,” he wrote.
The shooting has added to mounting criticism of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies. Since the start of Trump’s second term, encounters with ICE have led to at least 10 deaths — including two that occurred in the days following Salgado Araujo’s killing.
The government’s account of what happened has been sharply contested. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, claims Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and that an agent fired in self-defense. However, three men who were riding with Salgado Araujo at the time have strongly disputed that version of events.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a vocal supporter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, announced Wednesday that the state’s top law enforcement unit would conduct its own investigation into the fatal shooting.
More than a week after the incident, newly released court records reveal the FBI is also investigating whether drugs were present in the van. A search warrant application, signed by a federal judge on Tuesday, includes a statement from FBI Special Agent David McNeilly, who said he observed four plastic bags containing a white substance that appeared to be methamphetamine inside the vehicle.
DHS has not indicated that suspected drugs were the reason ICE officers initiated the traffic stop. The FBI directed all questions on the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz addressed the investigation in a recorded video statement Thursday, cautioning that nothing has been confirmed. “We are doing everything we can to seek the truth and do the right thing,” Reitz said. “In the meantime, I encourage the public to give the FBI and DHS the opportunity to investigate.”
An attorney representing Salgado Araujo’s brother — who was inside the van at the time of the shooting and was later detained by ICE — offered a different explanation for the white substance. Attorney Ruby L. Powers said the powder is a homemade electrolyte mixture the construction workers used to stay hydrated while laboring in the intense Texas heat.
Powers called on authorities to test the substance to confirm it is not illegal. “But no test result, whatever it ultimately shows, will change the fact that deadly force was used against Lorenzo,” she said. “You cannot shoot first and ask questions later.”
