What happened
The Department of Homeland Security Thursday said that the ICE agents who killed Houston homebuilder Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on Monday were not wearing body cameras and were searching for different migrants in a white van when they stopped him and three of his work crew.
The fatal shooting of Salgado Araujo, a Mexican father of three who had lived in Houston for 35 years, “has incited outrage in Texas and beyond,” The New York Times said. The Mexican government Thursday said it will request U.S. criminal charges over the deaths of Salgado Araujo and 16 other Mexicans who died in ICE custody or during President Donald Trump’s immigration operations.
Who said what
ICE has provided no evidence to support its initial claim that Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle” and the agent shot him in “self-defense,” and similar previous assertions have been contradicted by video. DHS Thursday said the agents involved had not yet been issued body cameras and “blamed Democrats for holding them up” with a government shutdown, The Texas Tribune said. DHS “has more money than it knows what to do with and still can’t manage basic accountability,” said Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas).
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What next?
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said his office is investigating Salgado Araujo’s death, though without access to federal evidence. No clear video or photos of the shooting have emerged. And the three eyewitnesses from the van are in detention and “being pressured to sign self-deportation orders,” League of United Latin American Citizens CEO Juan Proaño told The New Republic.
