DHS confirms Mexican immigrant not the intended target in fatal ICE traffic stop in Houston

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant killed during a traffic stop by federal immigration agents in Houston earlier this week, was not the intended target of the enforcement operation.

ICE agents were reportedly pursuing two Guatemalan individuals when they stopped Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the United States for 35 years, according to a New York Times report.

Salgado Araujo was en route to work early Tuesday morning when he was driving a white van carrying three others. Following the shooting, all three passengers were placed in custody. One of them, identified by advocacy groups as Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo—his brother—remains in an immigration detention facility, the New York Times reported.

A DHS official, speaking anonymously to the Guardian, said agents had received a tip from law‑enforcement partners regarding the suspect’s address and had earlier observed two white vans at that location.

On July 7, the officers were nearing the intended target’s address when they saw a white van containing a person who resembled the suspect, the official added.

The DHS statement offers no further details on the incident. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo later died from an abdominal gunshot wound, according to local law‑enforcement sources. The officers involved were not equipped with body cameras, DHS confirmed.

ICE agents involved in the stop alleged that Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE officer,” prompting the officer to fire “in self‑defense.” However, no supporting evidence has been presented to substantiate this claim.

The agency has invoked a similar justification in other high‑profile cases, such as the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the killing of two Venezuelan men in Oregon earlier this year. In both instances, video evidence contradicted the official narrative.

The incident will be reviewed by the DHS Office of the Inspector General, the agency said.

“He did not deserve to die,” said Ronaldo Salgado, the victim’s son, during a press conference on Wednesday.

“This is outrageous and absurd to hear that none of the people in the van were subjects of any investigation,” Salgado told the New York Times after learning his father had not been the focus of a federal inquiry.

The fatality represents the tenth lethal shooting by federal immigration officers nationwide since the second Trump administration assumed office, according to a Guardian analysis of public records.

Maanvi Singh and José Olivares contributed reporting

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