Ronaldo Salgado, son of Mexican motorist Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent, reacts on the day of a press conference, in Houston, Texas. Photo: REUTERS
HOUSTON:
There were growing calls on Wednesday for an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of a man in Houston by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, the latest in a string of deadly encounters involving American immigration officers.
In a statement after the shooting on Tuesday morning, ICE said the dead man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, rammed his car into an ICE vehicle and attempted to run over an officer, who then fired on him in “self-defense.” Salgado was a Mexican national living illegally in the United States and was caught up in a “targeted enforcement operation,” the agency said.
Reuters could not verify the man’s immigration status or the circumstances of the shooting.
At a Wednesday press conference, Salgado’s son, Ronaldo, described his father as a peaceful man who had spent the past 35 years in the country as a construction worker.
“He dedicated his life in the United States to giving his family the American dream,” Ronaldo said, adding that he had been working to get his legal immigration status and was close to achieving it.
Flanked by several members of Congress, leaders of Latino advocacy groups and Houston officials, Salgado called for “a full investigation” into his father’s killing.
Ronaldo only learned about what had happened after seeing a video posted on social media, he said, showing his father on the ground next to his white van.
“I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice, crying for help as he lay on the street, bleeding out,” Salgado said, choking back tears.
“It is un-American to use a fatal force against a human being, then lock away the evidence,” Roman Polares, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told the press conference. “For too long, we have watched an open season declared on Latinos, and communities of color, under the guise of public safety.”
ICE said on Tuesday that its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, would lead an investigation into the shooting, while the FBI would spearhead an inquiry into the “potential assault on a law enforcement officer.”
But many in this city were unwilling to wait for a federal probe: “I am calling for an immediate and impartial investigation, with all available video and findings released as soon as possible,” Alejandra Salinas, a Houston City Council member, wrote in an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday.
