The two sons of a man fatally shot by immigration officers in Houston earlier this month stood before a congressional hearing Friday, recounting the shock and anguish of discovering their father had been killed and calling for a full, transparent investigation into his death.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo died on July 7 after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers pursued his white work van through Houston streets and shot him through the vehicle’s window. His brother and other members of his work crew witnessed the shooting.
Speaking before Democratic members of Congress at a Houston hearing organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Salgado Araujo’s sons read from prepared statements, their voices frequently breaking with emotion. They described their father as a modest, hardworking man who had lived in the United States without legal status for 35 years, operated a homebuilding business, and had no history of legal trouble.
“He didn’t need anybody to know his name,” said Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Jr. at the hearing. “He worked hard to protect and provide for our family, to put me and my siblings through college. He taught us that good things come to those that work hard.”
The Department of Homeland Security stated shortly after the incident that Salgado Araujo had rammed his van into the pursuing immigration vehicles and then “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” claiming the officer fired in self-defense. None of the officers involved were wearing body cameras.
However, at least two passengers who were in the van have disputed that version of events. They say the officers collided with the van and were positioned safely to the sides of the vehicle — never at risk of being struck — when the shot was fired. All three passengers were arrested and remain in immigration detention. Among them is Salgado Araujo’s brother, Victor, whose account of the incident has not been made public because his petition for release is under seal.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told the hearing that DHS, which oversees ICE, has not responded to his repeated requests for information and evidence, including the identity of the officer who fired the fatal shot. Despite that, he said his office was making “significant progress” in its investigation, though he declined to share specific details or estimate a timeline for its conclusion.
The sons told the hearing their father would never have fled from officers had he known who they were — noting the vehicles involved were unmarked. As a family, they had previously discussed what to do if he ever crossed paths with ICE, and he had believed he would find a way to return home to them.
They described a man of steady routine. On the morning he was killed, he rose before dawn, ate a hearty breakfast his wife had prepared, said goodbye to her and their dog, climbed into his white van, said a prayer, and headed out before 6 a.m. to pick up his crew.
His son Ronaldo Salgado said his mother called him around 7 a.m. with word that something terrible had happened. After seeing a Facebook post about a confrontation with immigration officers, he rushed to the scene, spending hours pleading with officers and neighbors for any information — even asking one homeowner to climb onto her roof to get a better view of what had happened.
Then a video appeared on Facebook.
“I learned again from a Facebook post that our dad had been shot,” Ronaldo told the hearing. “Not because I could see him, but because I could hear his voice on videos posted online crying for help.”
He raced to the hospital. More hours passed before Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia stepped in to demand answers, and the family finally learned their father had died.
Rep. Garcia told the hearing that the Democratic delegation has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding the shooting and has received no response. She added that representatives from the department and the administration were invited to attend the hearing but declined. The Associated Press also reached out to DHS for comment Friday and did not receive an immediate reply.
Lorenzo Jr. described what the family has endured as “a kafkaesque nightmare.” The brothers said their grief extends beyond their own father — they also mourned Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old who was shot by immigration officers in Maine just days after their father’s death.
Both sons urged Congress to ensure justice is served. Lorenzo asked those at the hearing to imagine someone they love “pinned to the ground in pain and yelling out in desperate need of help.”
“Picture the anger and helplessness of watching that person bleed out through a video on your phone. What would you do after?” he asked. “How would you cope with the feeling of losing your protector, your role model, your mother’s loving partner, your grandmother’s little boy?”
He concluded, “That feeling you feel right now is only a fraction of what my family and I have felt these past 17 days.”
