ICE Fatally Shoots Mexican Immigrant They Claim Weaponized His Vehicle

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a Mexican immigrant in Houston on Tuesday, and federal authorities are claiming the victim was killed after he weaponized his vehicle against the agent, which, of course, is an all too familiar tune.

According to the Washington Post, ICE officials claim the shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo happened as officers attempted to arrest him for allegedly being undocumented, and that he refused to comply with officers during the enforcement operation.

“From information we are receiving, 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,” the agency said in a statement.

One can only wonder how much heavy lifting the disclaimer, “From information we are receiving,” is doing in that statement. At some point, we really need to collectively scrutinize how easy it seems to be for both federal agents and agents of the state to explain away a fatal shooting by claiming the victim used their car as a weapon.

After all, not only did the Trump administration and its MAGA loyalists play around in our faces by trying to convince us that Renee Nicole Good intentionally tried to ram ICE agents with her vehicle — as if we couldn’t see with our own eyes the video footage that shows she did no such thing — but, from top to bottom, Trump administration officials smeared Good as a “domestic terrorist” based on zero evidence, just as they did ICE shooting victim Alex Pretti not long after.

Then there’s the story of Marimar Martinez, the teaching assistant and U.S. citizen from Chicago, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent, immediately prompting the Department of Homeland Security to drag her name through the mud, claiming she was armed when the gun she has a license to carry never left her purse, and that she weaponized her vehicle against the agent, when she did not. Martinez was charged with felony assault of a federal officer, but that charge was ultimately dismissed last November, a couple of weeks after a judge grilled Border Patrol personnel over “discrepancies” in their account of how the shooting started.

It’s worth noting that the issue of officers fatally shooting citizens and claiming a vehicle was weaponized is far from limited to federal law enforcement. Last month, a Mississippi police officer shot and killed a 1-year-old Black child over what the department claimed was a shoplifting incident, and that the driver of the vehicle the infant was in drove in the cop’s direction, forcing him to shoot to kill.

From Ta’Kiya Young to Sean Bell, it just seems really convenient that a cop can simply claim they were in fear for their lives and that it was easier for them to aim and shoot than it was to move out of the way of vehicles that typically appear to be trying to get away from them.

As for Salgado Araujo, ICE said in a statement that DHS’s Office of Inspector General is leading an investigation into the shooting. The FBI’s Houston office said it is separately investigating “the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”

Meanwhile, anti-ICE protests have already sprung up in Houston on Salgado Araujo’s behalf, and activist groups have joined the cause as Democratic lawmakers promise the community that thorough investigations will be conducted and justice will be sought.

From the Post:

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) said that, according to Salgado Araujo’s family, he was in the process of obtaining legal status in the U.S.

“My father has been in this country for nearly 35 years,” his son Ronaldo Salgado said in a statement, “working in construction to provide for myself, my two brothers, and my mother. … My father did not deserve this.”

LULAC chief executive Juan Proaño said Salgado Araujo was picking up employees in a work vehicle during the traffic stop. The Hispanic civil rights organization called for an investigation by city police and prosecutors, and announced a $5,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information about the shooting.

“We can’t count on the FBI,” said Domingo Garcia, a former LULAC president and former Texas state lawmaker. He called ICE an “out-of-control agency that requires oversight.”

The shooting happened in Magnolia Park, Houston’s historic Mexican American and Latino immigrant neighborhood, which annually hosts Día de Los Muertos celebrations and community events commemorating its multicultural heritage.

“People were crying on the streets as he was dying,” he said.

Of course, Salgado Araujo’s story has also caught the attention of immigrant-hating MAGA bigots, who are mostly demonizing the victim while sharing a photo of some other Latino man who is not Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

We’ll have to wait and see if any semblance of justice and accountability happens in Salgado Araujo’s case, but it will be an uphill battle, because this administration routinely peddles racist, anti-immigrant propaganda, and its followers are always more than pleased to eat it all up.

SEE ALSO:

Video: ICE Shoots And Kills US Citizen In Minneapolis. Again

Witness Accounts Of Chicago ICE Shooting Contradict DHS