ICE agent fatally shoots motorist in Houston vehicle stop

HOUSTON — A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a man in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday while officers were trying to stop his vehicle, the agency said in a statement, in the midst of an escalating federal crackdown on migrants nationwide.

The man was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and "illegal alien" who attempted to evade arrest during a "targeted enforcement operation" by federal immigration officers.

Ronaldo Salgado, who identified himself as the son of the slain motorist, told the Spanish-language television station Telemundo Houston that his father was shot while he was seeking workers for hire in the area. Reuters could not immediately verify the man's immigration status or the circumstances of the shooting, which occurred shortly before 7 am.

According to the ICE account of the incident, Salgado "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".

The confrontation resulted in "our officer firing his weapon in self-defense", striking the driver, who was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries, ICE said. Video recorded by an onlooker riding past the scene and posted online by KRIVTV, a Fox affiliate in Houston, showed two agents crouched over a man lying in the street on the driver's side of a white van. Two other men are seen on the ground in handcuffs on the other side of the van.

The confrontation in Houston came amid a recent increase in the number of ICE arrests nationwide, with immigration officers picking up around 2,000 migrants a day last week, according to people familiar with the matter. At least six people have now been shot and killed by federal immigration officers since January 2025, when US President Donald Trump began his second term and ordered large-scale deportation sweeps.

In several instances over the past year, initial statements from immigration enforcement agencies about their use of force have been challenged by video footage or other evidence, sometimes in court. In October, a Chicago-area woman, Marimar Martinez, was accused of ramming law enforcement officers with her car. She was shot five times but survived. Charges against her were ultimately dropped and video evidence suggested that the agents could have struck her vehicle themselves. Trump administration officials also said that two US citizens shot dead by federal agents on the streets of Minneapolis in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, had threatened bodily harm to the agents before they were killed — despite video evidence to the contrary.

US Representative Sylvia Garcia, a Texas Democrat who represents the neighborhood where the shooting took place, called for a "full and impartial investigation".

The call for an independent inquiry was echoed by Roman Palomares, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens:"We have seen a pattern of ICE involvement in shootings and excessive use of force," he told reporters on Tuesday.

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA