An agent of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) killed a Mexican citizen this Tuesday after opening fire on him when he tried to detain him as part of an operation against irregular immigration in the state of Texas, as confirmed on social networks by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to which this agency reports.
The incident took place early in the morning "as part of a police operation aimed at arresting an undocumented immigrant." The victim has been identified by Homeland Security as Lorenzo Salgado Araújo, described as an "undocumented immigrant from Mexico," who allegedly tried to "evade arrest."
"According to the information we have received, he rammed an ICE vehicle, refused to obey several verbal orders, and attempted to run over an ICE agent with his vehicle, which caused our agent to fire his weapon in self-defense," the official statement says to justify the lethal use of force.
The driver, hit by the shots, "was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries," the Department reported, specifying that its Office of the Inspector General "is investigating the incident."
In addition, the DHS indicated that "the Houston field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the possible assault on a federal agent," thus opening a second line of inquiry into what happened.
This case adds to other deaths at the hands of federal agents in the framework of the broad anti-immigrant campaign promoted by the Donald Trump Administration. This is the third fatality from shots fired by federal agents—the second attributed to ICE—following the deaths of two US citizens in the state of Minnesota earlier this year.
The new episode also occurs shortly after the US president suggested on social networks renaming the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, "ice" in English) as the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (NICE, "nice" in English).
"If they had to say 'we went to NICE facilities today,' we would have a much more prestigious name simply by adding a National N to ICE," he argued, claiming that the change "would completely throw off fraudulent, dishonest, and unpatriotic reporters and journalists."
The controversial federal body, of a paramilitary nature and focused on the persecution of undocumented immigrants, has a long history of criticism for the limited training of its agents, the disproportionate use of force, and the numerous incidents in which it has been involved.
They demand an independent investigation into Salgado's death
In light of what happened, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has recalled that several of these episodes have occurred in Texas and has launched a specific petition in the last few hours "to demand a complete, independent, and transparent investigation into the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at the hands of ICE agents in Houston".
The organization maintains that "ICE's initial claim that Mr. Salgado attempted to use his vehicle to injure the agents cannot be accepted at face value" and demands that "all evidence, including body camera footage, surveillance videos, radio communications, and witness statements" be preserved and made public.
In its appeal, the League emphasizes that "this is not the first time" the Service has "justified a shooting by alleging that someone tried to run over agents, only for evidence to later prove that false."
"In the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Chicago in 2025, ICE alleged that she tried to ram federal agents, but video evidence later showed that to be false and the criminal charges against her were dismissed," the organization recalls as a precedent, before also mentioning one of the incidents in Minnesota at the beginning of the year, when the paramilitary body "claimed that a woman tried to run over agents before being shot dead, but video of the incident showed this to be inaccurate."
Given this context, LULAC calls for "a complete and independent investigation, the immediate release of all available evidence, and accountability for Lorenzo's unjust death." "The public deserves the truth and the Salgado family deserves justice," the petition concludes.