HOUSTON — On Thursday evening, the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo held a public vigil in Houston following his fatal shooting by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer last Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national with no criminal record who had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was driving his construction crew to a job site when the incident occurred.

The shooting has intensified scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies. Since the start of Trump's second term last year, encounters with ICE have resulted in at least 10 deaths, including two in the days following Salgado Araujo's death.

In the aftermath, three men who were in the vehicle with Salgado Araujo have strongly disputed the government's official account. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, stated that Salgado Araujo had rammed an ICE vehicle and that the federal agent fired in self-defense.

Greg Abbott, a supporter of Trump’s immigration crackdown and Texas's top law enforcement official, announced on Wednesday that the state's leading law enforcement unit would investigate the fatal shooting.

An attorney representing Salgado Araujo’s brother, who was in the van during the shooting and later detained by ICE, said the powder found was a homemade electrolyte mix used by the construction crew to stay hydrated in the Texas heat.

Salgado Araujo’s son, Ronaldo Salgado, expressed the family’s gratitude for the widespread support in a Facebook post on Thursday, saying, “My family would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the unbelievable and incredible support we have received.”

The vigil reflects the family's response to the renewed criticism of immigration enforcement tactics following the shooting.

Sources