Son: Man Killed by ICE Was Close to Getting Legal Status

A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the US and was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was working toward securing legal status in the US and knew what to do if stopped by ICE, his son said.

• Ronaldo Salgado said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were coming to steal the tools he used for 35 years to build homes, from sunrise to sunset, so he could send his three American sons to college, the AP reports.

• "He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. 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," Salgado said during a news conference.
• The shooting happened Tuesday in Magnolia Park, a neighborhood that has been a hub for Houston's Mexican American community for a century. Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored commands and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday in a statement. ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE. The man's car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.
• Democratic US Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions. Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen. He died at a hospital. Three other men appeared to be detained as Salgado Araujo lay moaning on the ground, according to his son, who said one of them was his uncle and that no one has heard from any of them since.

• Salgado Araujo met his wife as a teenager in Mexico. They came to America and built their own home in Houston with help from friends and family who worked on his crew. His wife made his lunch before he left for the day and had a hearty meal ready when he came home. He would listen to music and pet his dog on his porch, Salgado said.
• "After nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit," Salgado said. "We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment. He was close to obtaining his legal status."
• Salgado Araujo had a biometric scan and fingerprints done earlier this year, his son said, and had carefully studied what to do if ICE pulled him over. If he was speeding away, it was probably because he feared having his tools stolen, his son said. "Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about a law enforcement agency, my father would have complied," his son said.

• Federal officials have not released video or images of the shooting or the alleged damage to the vehicles. Salgado on Tuesday joined civil rights groups and Democratic officials in urging federal authorities to release all the footage and other information it has on the shooting. In several other shootings involving federal officers, initial descriptions by immigration officials have sometimes been contradicted later by video evidence.
• Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo's family and the community deserve the truth but federal authorities are exclusively handling the investigation at this time.