Houston Man Killed by ICE, Hailed as Father Chasing ‘American Dream,’ Had Meth in His Car, FBI Says
Authorities recently discovered a “white crystal-like substance” in a work van belonging to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an illegal immigrant who was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston last week and who has been hailed by the media as a father chasing the “American dream.”
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There has been intense outrage surrounding the incident, especially amid the broader unrest regarding U.S. immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
Media outlets have touted Salgado Araujo as a father of four who, having entered the country 35 years ago in search of a better life, was actively pursuing legal status in the U.S.
However, after Salgado Araujo was killed last week, the FBI sought a search warrant for evidence of potential federal drug offenses, which included possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and simple possession.
ICE agents stopped the 52-year-old Mexican national last week while he was driving to work because they saw “a white van with an individual who resembled the target” of an operation. While Salgado Araujo was not the man agents were looking for, ICE says its officer shot at him in self defense after the illegal immigrant allegedly rammed an ICE vehicle with his work van.
According to the most recent FBI affidavit, Salgado Araujo initially “refused to stop and instead drove over a median in an apparent attempt to flee. Pursuant to ICE policy, the officers did not pursue the vehicle.”
The agents ultimately met back up with the vehicle, attempting to stop it again. An agent fatally shot Salgado Araujo after he tried to “weaponize” his car, according to ICE. However, the three other passengers of the work van dispute this version of events.
At the time of the incident, agents outside the vehicle “observed in plain view several plastic bags with what appeared to be a white crystal-like substance packaged in small plastic bags,” the affidavit reads. The bags agents saw from outside the vehicle are “consistent with methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance,” law enforcement says.
While the affidavit notes the FBI has the legal authority to search the vehicle without prior approval, agents say they obtained a search warrant this week out of an “abundance of caution.”
The possession of drugs is the latest development in this case that has garnered national attention and has sparked intense criticism of ICE operations.
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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is set to hold a hearing on the incident July 24.
“[The witnesses] say the agents never identified themselves and no officer was ever standing anywhere near the front of a van,” Representative Sylvia Garcia (D., Texas) said during a news conference Tuesday morning. “So Lorenzo’s family is being asked to trust an agency that killed him, when he wasn’t a target, had no criminal history [and] the officers never identified themselves.”
Representative Joaquin Castro (D., Texas) similarly criticized ICE and called to disband the agency.
“We have to freeze their hiring,” Castro said. “We should give them no more money. Congress has to use every leverage that it can to change ICE’s behavior. Otherwise, these killings will continue. There will be another victim in a few days or a few weeks.”
The Department of Homeland Security briefly issued a policy limiting civil arrests through the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations this week in response to the deaths of Salgado Araujo and a second man who was shot during a traffic stop in Maine. Under the short-lived policy change, enforcement and removal agents were prevented from making vehicle stops while they receive updated training on tactics.
However, Trump directed the agency to continue carrying out vehicle stops just one day after the policy was made public, calling the stops “one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools.”
Trump argued that doing away with vehicle stops would be “playing right into the criminal’s [sic] hands.”
“The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch,” he wrote. “ICE, be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”
