HOUSTON, Texas — The fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston has intensified scrutiny of the agency’s training practices, use of force and credibility under the Trump administration. Critics argue the shooting reflects a broader pattern of misconduct and a lack of accountability, while commentators at MS NOW contend such incidents have become predictable. ICE officers claimed Salgado “weaponized his vehicle,” an assertion many critics reject, citing what they describe as the agency’s pattern of dishonesty during the second Trump administration.
ICE claimed Salgado swerved to attack officers by attempting to run them over, an accusation also made following the controversial killing of Renee Nicole Good. Salgado was driving a van with three passengers, who said ICE brought the vehicle to a stop before opening fire. There was no body camera footage of the incident because the officers were not wearing body cameras, a fact that both ICE critics and supporters have blamed on one another.
Supporters of ICE frequently argue that officers are defending themselves from violent extremists and that “weaponizing a vehicle” is a common tactic used in such attacks. In an interview with The New York Times, President Donald Trump said, “[Renee Nicole Good] behaved horribly. Then she ran him over. She didn’t try to run him over, she ran him over.”
According to The New York Times, top Trump administration officials have been repeatedly using the term “domestic terrorist,” despite questions surrounding its legal application.
When similar allegations were made in the Renee Nicole Good case, footage from the officer who shot her, along with video captured by bystanders, raised questions about the accusation. The New York Times analyzed multiple camera angles, concluding that ICE Officer Ross first positioned himself in front of the vehicle before it backed up to turn away from another officer, jostling the camera at the moment when many claimed Ross had been run over.
In addition to the video evidence, critics argue Ross unnecessarily placed himself in danger by maneuvering around the vehicle. According to NBC News, a Department of Homeland Security official said, “ICE officers are trained to never approach a vehicle from the front and instead to approach in a ‘tactical L’ 90-degree angle to prevent injury or cross-fire […] ICE officers are also instructed that firing at a vehicle will not make it stop moving in the direction of the officer.”
The MS NOW opinion piece argued that the Trump Department of Justice investigated Good rather than the ICE officers following her death. It also asserted that, in other similar cases, the Department of Justice attempted to prosecute the victims of such shootings but later moved to dismiss the charges after judges rejected them.
MS NOW extrapolated from the killings of Good, Alex Pretti and others, asserting that “it is unlikely that Trump’s DOJ will take any action against the ICE officers, given its unwillingness to do so elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, Houston District Attorney Sean Tende, after launching an investigation into the shooting, “[has] already noted that he is struggling to gather evidence from recalcitrant federal officials, which is the exact same problem that has stymied the local investigations in Minneapolis into the killings of Good and Alex Pretti.”
Judge Sarah Ellis is among the judges who have expressed frustration with what they describe as the Trump administration’s lack of candor.
“While Defendants may argue that the Court identifies only minor inconsistencies, every minor inconsistency adds up, and at some point, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to believe almost anything that Defendants represent,” Judge Ellis said.
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