“I woke up this morning and finally realize that my father is gone,” Ronaldo Salgado, one of the three children of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed by an immigration agent in Houston, Texas, wrote on Facebook.

Ronaldo led a press conference on Wednesday where he spoke about his father and, together with Democratic Congresswoman Sylvia García (Texas), demanded a response from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, an office that, until now, has defended the actions of responsible agents.

Salgado Araujo became for the authorities one more number of the immigrants killed in ice custody, but he was more than a number, he was a human being, a family man. He came to the US when he was 35 years old; he worked in construction and had a business that gave jobs to other people. His work allowed him to send his three children to college. He was in the process of getting a work permit, his son shared.

Last Tuesday morning, Lorenzo was intercepted by ice agents after picking up his workers, shortly after 6 a.m. The authority claims that Lorenzo used the vehicle against him, the same argument that was exposed in the death of Renne Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lorenzo's death occurred in Houston's East End, near Magnolia Park.

“Today is the first day without him for all of us, and it is heartbreaking to know that my mother did not prepare lunch for him before going to work, the first time in his more than 30 years of marriage,” his son wrote on Facebook. “This was my father: a simple man, a family man. Not someone who was screaming for help on the floor as he bled out. He just wanted to go to work and come back to us.”

His son's words were heard in his own voice Wednesday at the press conference, where he was also accompanied by representatives of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the oldest Hispanic civil rights organizations in the country, which advises Lorenzo's family. The group published videos that expose the moment when Lorenzo was arrested and killed by immigration agents.

"We do not expect the truth from the Department of Justice or the FBI," said Domingo García, national president of LULAC. “We expect a cover-up, that's what we expect. But I want to be very clear: the only way to hold them accountable is for Houstonians and residents to do so.”

Garcia asked the Houston Police Department to investigate the murder, but the negative response came later from Mayor John Whitmire, who maintained that municipal authorities lack jurisdiction to investigate the actions of federal agents.

"I support the call of the family and the community for a thorough, transparent and credible investigation," said the mayor.

Pressure for ice to respond

Various organizations at the national level joined LULAC's call on the case and demand a fair investigation and answers on Lorenzo's death.

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The National Coalition of Hispanic Media criticized the statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which states that Lorenzo "rammed an ice police vehicle, refused to obey multiple verbal orders, and used his vehicle as a weapon."

“This bears a disturbing resemblance to what DHS has asserted in at least a dozen shootings since January 2025,” said Brenda Victoria Castillo, president and CEO of the Coalition. “In those shootings, DHS's claim that the vehicles were used as weapons against federal agents was often not upheld in court or before the evidence presented.”

In almost all cases where independent videos, court records, or government corrections have emerged, DHS's claim that the driver “turned his vehicle into a weapon” has not stood: it has been contradicted by the recordings, dismissed in court, or discreetly reviewed by the agency itself.

Castillo recalled some people who died from ice and Border Patrol (CBP) actions, including Ruben Ray Martinez, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, Keith Porter Jr., Renee Nicole Good, Isaías Sanchez Barboza and Alex Jeffrey Pretti.