Federal Judge Orders Release of Key Witness in ICE’s Fatal Shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

A federal judge has ordered the release from ICE custody of one of the key witnesses in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father killed by an ICE agent on July 7 in Houston. Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego must be released within 48 hours, the judge ruled. He was one of three passengers in the van driven by Salgado Araujo the morning of the fatal shooting. Two other key witnesses, including his younger brother Victor, remain in an ICE jail. Community organizers on Tuesday again disrupted a Houston City Council meeting. Salgado Araujo’s eldest son Ronaldo addressed the council, demanding justice for his father and an end to the collaboration between Houston police and ICE. Ronaldo Salgado: “How will you show up for the rest of the immigrant community here in Houston to make sure that what happened to my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, doesn’t happen to any of them? This isn’t a partisan issue. This is an issue of right and wrong, and this wrong needs to be addressed. Every single one of you councilmembers have immigrants living in your district. How will you protect them?” This comes as Reuters reports more than 12,000 people have been detained after the Office of Refugee Resettlement provided personal information on unaccompanied migrant children, as well as their parents and sponsors, to federal immigration agents. Since January 2025, ORR has shared more than 460,000 leads to immigration authorities. Meanwhile, The New York Times has found ICE arrests have surged at airports nationwide as the Transportation Security Administration expands its collaboration with ICE. www.democracynow.org