Family seeks independent inquiry into ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado

When Ronaldo Salgado saw a Facebook video showing immigration agents restraining a migrant, he immediately knew that the man lying face down on the ground was his father, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. No federal or local authority had confirmed it to him. He instantly recognized his father’s voice pleading for help as he bled from a gunshot wound inflicted by an officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“I had faith he would survive the bullet wound that entered here,” he said at a Wednesday news conference as he pointed to his right side. “He was alive when I saw that video,” he recounted, flanked by Democratic members of Congress — including Sylvia García and Alexander Green — and representatives of immigrant support groups such as FIEL and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). He held a portrait of his smiling father in his hands.

A few hours later, on Canal Street in Houston, hundreds of demonstrators — far more than the small group seen the previous night — repeated Lorenzo Salgado’s name over and over. “What do we want for Lorenzo Salgado?” one person shouted.

“Justice!” the protesters replied.

“What do we want for our neighborhoods? What do we want for Hispanics?” the voice continued.

“ICE out!” the crowd shouted back.

Their signs called for “transparency” in the investigation into the death of the Mexican-born immigrant, echoing the demands made earlier that day by his children at a press conference and by Representative Garcia in a letter addressed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

On Tuesday, Lorenzo Salgado had left home at 5:50 a.m. to go to a residential construction site north of Houston. At 6:45 a.m., he was scheduled to pick up the last member of his crew in his white van. The team consisted of three other immigrants, including one of Lorenzo’s brothers.

But at 7:00 a.m., his wife, María, informed Rolando, the eldest son, age 29, that something bad had happened to his father. “We didn’t know what, only that it was related to ICE.”

Five minutes later he left for his father’s job site: “If he had been detained by ICE, he would have wanted the van returned so the other workers could finish the houses and the families could receive their pay,” the young man thought. But he could not find the vehicle.

Then he saw on a community Facebook page that there was “ICE activity” on Canal Street, in the Hispanic neighborhood Magnolia Park, a place he knew well. When he arrived on the avenue, he saw his father’s van parked, but there was no sign of him, his uncle, or the other coworkers. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents informed him that a person had been taken to Harris Health Ben Taub Hospital.

At the medical center, no one gave him any information about his father’s condition. But there, in the hospital where he and his two siblings had been born, his father had been declared dead as a result of the gunshot wound.

Texas Democratic Representative Sylvia Garcia denounced at Wednesday’s press conference that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had issued a press release on Tuesday explaining its version of events and announcing Salgado’s death before first notifying his family.

In its statement to the media, DHS said that at approximately 6:50 a.m., ICE agents attempted to stop Salgado’s vehicle as part of an operation and that he “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.”

These are similar arguments the agency has used in other incidents, including when a Mexican migrant was shot by immigration agents in Chicago in September and when another immigration officer fatally shot Renée Good in Minneapolis in January.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Salgado family had still not received a call from federal or local authorities providing information about what had happened. Houston Mayor John Whitmire — who has faced criticism for cooperating with immigration agencies — said in a statement that the city could not become involved in investigating the death because it does not have “jurisdiction over federal law enforcement officers.”

‘We don’t believe you’

Despite the version of events provided by authorities, Ronaldo Salgado and his family still do not know what led an agent to use deadly force against his father, because they do not believe the official account. Since his father had been in the process of obtaining a work permit for a year and a half, the family had established a plan in case he was detained by ICE: he was to call either Ronaldo or María, his wife of more than 40 years.

“What happened is that my father was followed by two unmarked cars. If my father had seen an ICE emblem or the emblem of any law enforcement agency, he would have complied, he would have stopped, and he would not have fled. He drove fast because he thought he was being chased. He thought they would steal his work tools,” said Ronaldo, speaking to how well he knew his father. “Unfortunately, that is not what happened. ICE did not present itself in an orderly, professional way. The standard is to identify themselves.”

Immigrant-rights organizations and members of Congress said they would continue pressing local authorities to conduct a “transparent” and “impartial” investigation. All of them expressed doubts about the account provided by DHS and demanded that the full evidence — including body-camera footage and collected witness statements — be made public.

“We do not believe you. You have not earned their [Americans’] trust,” said Ramón Palomares, a representative of LULAC. To help clarify what happened, the organization is even offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who provides information that helps shed light on the events that took place on Canal Street on Tuesday.

Ronaldo Salgado and his family want to know what happened, but they also want Lorenzo Salgado Araujo to be remembered as a humble man who worked hard to provide for his family and who also helped many people find employment. His eldest son says he will miss his father’s routines — among them, seeing him sitting in the yard every afternoon or sharing a hearty dinner beside his mother.

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