ICE agents at the scene of the shooting of the Mexican real estate developer did not have body cameras
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Federal agents were not wearing body cameras when a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Mexican real estate developer who was driving a work van they were trying to remove in Houston, the US Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
Few photos or videos of Tuesday's shooting have emerged in the days since Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and ICE agents met in one of the city's Hispanic neighborhoods, unlike other deaths involving immigration officials. The family of Salgado Araujo, who has lived in the US for more than 35 years, questioned the ICE account and asked the agency to release evidence.
In a statement, the DHS said agents at the scene in Houston had not taken off their body cameras, blaming them on Democrats and the government shutdown prompted by President Donald Trump's attack on immigration.
Homicide was not the intent of DHS
DHS, which oversees ICE, said federal officials were conducting a targeted operation to arrest someone in the country without legal status when they tried to stop a car driven by Salgado Araujo. The agency said Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and that a government official fired a weapon in self-defense.
When asked if ICE agents were targeting Salgado Araujo, DHS said on Thursday that the police were patrolling the area where they saw two white vans.
“On July 7, the police had almost reached their destination when they saw a white van with a person similar to the one who was targeted. The police then stopped the vehicle,” said the Department.
A growing network of US corporations is receiving billions from the Trump administration to carry out its immigration campaign. Nationally, CBC's Jonathan Montpetit reveals how ICE arrests turned into a big money business, and what it means for the people who find themselves locked up.
Separately, Houston prosecutors said they were investigating the death of Salgado Araujo, whose family has joined Democrats in calling for an independent investigation into the shooting.
Salgado Araujo had no criminal record and was close to getting a work permit after living in the US for more than three decades without legal status, his family said.
The Harris County district attorney's office said it will conduct an investigation into the shooting. The office is negotiating with local prosecutors in Minneapolis, where federal agents shot and killed two American citizens, to learn how to investigate the investigation by immigration agents, said their spokesman Rafael Lemaitre.
“While access to key evidence is still controlled by the agency, we are following the investigative procedures at our disposal and will review any information we gather that we have access to,” Lemaitre said in an emailed statement.
Three men, including Salgado Araujo's brother, were arrested by ICE during the sting operation, according to Juan Proa.no, the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who has been in contact with their families.
LULAC has not received video footage that clearly shows what happened during the shooting and has offered a $5,000 US reward for information from a witness, Proa.no told the Associated Press. The parking of Salgado Araujo's van and ICE vehicles blocked the updated LULAC security camera footage, he added.
“It will make it very difficult to find the truth in all this,” he said.
DHS said the ICE agents involved in the incident are expected to receive body-worn cameras within the next 60 days.
After the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Democrats refused to fund ICE and the Border Patrol without changes to those services designed to increase accountability and transparency.
Republicans in Congress eventually passed legislative funding for ICE and CBP for three years.
