Federal agents were not wearing body cameras when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Mexican homebuilder driving a work van during an attempted traffic stop in Houston, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
In a separate development, Houston prosecutors said they are reviewing the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. His family, joined by Democratic officials, has urged authorities to launch an independent investigation into Tuesday’s early-morning shooting, which occurred in one of the city’s predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods.
Only limited images or video connected to the shooting have surfaced publicly in the days since Salgado Araujo’s encounter with ICE agents, a contrast with some other fatal incidents involving federal immigration officers. Relatives of Salgado Araujo, who had lived in the United States for more than 35 years, have challenged ICE’s version of events and pressed the agency to make evidence public.
DHS said in a statement that the agents involved in the Houston operation had not yet received body-worn cameras. The department attributed the delay to Democrats and to a record-long government shutdown tied to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement push.
The department, which oversees ICE, has said federal officers were carrying out a targeted operation aimed at arresting a person in the country without legal status when they tried to stop the vehicle Salgado Araujo was driving. According to DHS, Salgado Araujo struck an ICE vehicle with the van, prompting a federal officer to fire in self-defense.
Asked Thursday whether Salgado Araujo himself had been the intended target, DHS said officers had been watching a property where they had earlier seen two white vans.
“On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop,” the department said.
Salgado Araujo’s family has said he had no criminal history and was nearing approval for a work permit after spending more than three decades in the United States without legal status.
The Harris County District Attorney’s office said it would conduct an investigation into the shooting. The office is consulting with local prosecutors in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, to learn how they have navigated investigations into federal immigration agents, spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre said.
“Although access to key evidence remains under federal control, we are pursuing investigative avenues available to us and will conduct a review of any information we collect within our reach,” Lemaitre said in an emailed statement.
Three men, including Salgado Araujo’s brother, were detained by ICE during the fatal traffic stop, according to Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who has been communicating with their families.
LULAC has yet to obtain video footage that clearly shows what happened during the moments of the shooting and has offered a reward of $5,000 for information from witnesses, Proaño told The Associated Press. The position of Salgado Araujo’s van and ICE vehicles has obstructed security camera footage LULAC has reviewed, he added.
“It’s going to make it even more difficult to find the truth in all this,” he said.
DHS said the ICE agents involved in the incident were expected to receive body-worn cameras in the next 60 days.
In the aftermath of the fatal Minneapolis shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Democrats had refused to fund ICE and the Border Patrol without changes to those operations designed to increase accountability and transparency. Republicans in Congress eventually passed legislation funding just ICE and CBP for three years.
