Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) issued a forceful statement on Wednesday calling on federal immigration enforcement personnel to abstain from “shooting people” during operations, over one week after Texas erupted over a fatal incident.
Eight days after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen, was killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston, the governor confirmed that the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers are investigating the incident, after Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz requested an investigation. The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General’s Office is investigating the shooting, but Democrats had pushed for an outside investigation, including nearly every Democrat in the House on Wednesday.
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“Any loss of life is tragic,” Abbott said during a press conference. “In Texas and across America, we don’t want to see people shot. Period.”
“I fully expect our immigration laws to be enforced, but it’s proven that immigration laws can be enforced and stopping illegal immigration from coming across our border can be achieved without shooting people,” he added.
Araujo, 52, had lived in the United States for over three decades, laboring as a construction worker. He was fatally shot by ICE last week during a traffic stop in Houston, as the homebuilder drove his construction crew to a job site. Araujo was in the U.S. illegally, but DHS personnel have said he was not the target of the ICE operation that preceded his killing. ICE decided to pursue Araujo’s Ford Transit work van on the way to the target’s home. Officials say they fatally shot him after he sought to evade federal officers and attempted to weaponize the vehicle, allegedly trying to ram it into agents.
“After receiving a credible tip from our law enforcement partners, our officers conducted surveillance on a target’s address,” a DHS official said. “Weeks prior to the incident, they noted two white vans at the property. On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop.”
Democrats swiftly questioned the narrative, pointing to incidents in Minneapolis earlier this year, where DHS officials made similar self-defense claims in the lethal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti that were disputed by video evidence. The workers who were in Araujo’s van said in written statements that at no point were officers behind or in front of the van and were never at risk of being run over during the chaotic scene, according to the Texas Tribune.
“Nobody is defending violent criminals or suggesting that law enforcement should not protect themselves when they face a genuine threat,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder said. “But we’ve already seen this movie in Minneapolis, so we know the public cannot simply be asked to accept an official version of events without transparency.”
Abbott said Wednesday that Texas Department of Public Safety officials, the Texas Rangers, the Houston Police Department, and federal officials met Tuesday to discuss the shooting.
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Araujo’s family said he was very close to obtaining legal status in the U.S. after living in the Houston area for over three decades and that he knew what to do if approached by ICE officers. His oldest son said his father could have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were going to steal his tools. His family said he started his own business and had no criminal record.
“I want the world to know my father, not as someone who got shot and killed, but as a family man, a man who understood that good things come to those who put in hard work,” Araujo’s son said after his father’s death.
