By Zoila Palma: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has acknowledged that a Mexican national who was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday was not the intended target of the operation.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was stopped around 7:00 a.m. while driving to work and later died from gunshot wounds after being taken to hospital, BBC reports.
In a statement released Thursday, DHS said agents initiated the stop after spotting “a white van with an individual who resembled the target” of an ongoing enforcement operation.
The department maintained that the officer involved fired in self-defense after Salgado allegedly attempted to evade arrest and rammed an ICE vehicle. However, the agents were not wearing body cameras, and authorities have not released any images or video of the incident. DHS said about half of its field officers are currently equipped with body cameras, with the remainder expected to receive them within the next 60 days.
Salgado’s family said he had lived and worked as a builder in the Houston area for three decades after arriving in the United States as an undocumented migrant. They described him as having no criminal record and said he was close to obtaining a work permit. According to relatives, he was transporting three co-workers to a job site when the shooting occurred.
The incident sparked protests in Houston on Wednesday, while four Democratic members of Congress called for an independent investigation.
In a letter to DHS, Representatives Sylvia Garcia, Al Green, Lizzie Fletcher, and Christian Menefee argued that the case was not an isolated incident and criticized the department’s explanation, saying it repeated previous claims of self-defense and the alleged use of a vehicle as a weapon without providing sufficient accountability.
The shooting has also drawn a response from the Mexican government.
Mexican officials announced plans to file criminal complaints in the United States over the deaths of more than a dozen Mexican nationals in ICE custody or during enforcement operations.
The post International News: U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Houston man shot dead by ICE was not intended target appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has acknowledged that a Mexican national who was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday was not the intended target of the operation. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was stopped around 7:00 a.m. while driving to
The post International News: U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Houston man shot dead by ICE was not intended target appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
