For 35 years, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s routine never wavered: wake at 5 a.m., kiss his wife goodbye, load his work van, and drive to pick up his construction crew. But on Tuesday, that routine ended in tragedy when the 52-year-old Mexican father was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during what the agency described as a targeted operation in Houston’s East End.
According to ICE, Salgado Araujo attempted to evade a traffic stop, rammed into a law enforcement vehicle, and refused verbal commands before an agent fired in self-defense. His family vehemently denies this account, insisting he would have complied had he known the unmarked car belonged to federal agents. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General is leading an investigation into the shooting.
Ronaldo Salgado, the eldest son, described his father as a private, hardworking man who spent decades building hundreds of homes in Houston suburbs. He had no criminal record and had recently submitted a work permit application, hoping to secure legal status. “He wanted nothing else in life but to provide for his wife and see his sons become great people,” Ronaldo said through tears at a news conference.
The tragedy adds to a growing list of deadly encounters involving ICE agents this year, including the killings of a mother of three in Minneapolis and an ICU nurse later that month. Texas lawmakers and immigrant advocacy groups are calling for an independent investigation into Salgado Araujo’s death.
“He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE,’” Ronaldo said. “He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father, and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream.”
