Protesters in Houston demand justice after ICE agent kills Mexican man

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Houston, Texas, on Sunday to demand justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national shot dead by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on July 7, according to Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo). Protesters marched from Ervan Chew Park and briefly shut down a bridge on Dunlavy Street, carrying banners reading "Abolish ICE" and "Justice for Lorenzo."

ICE said Salgado Araujo tried to ram an agent with his vehicle and that the officer fired in self-defence, but witnesses contradicted that account, and a statement by the US attorney for the Southern District of Texas made no mention of any collision or that the officer feared for his life, according to Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo). The discrepancy has intensified scrutiny of the agency's account of the killing.

The Houston protest follows a wider reckoning over ICE fatalities, as encounters with ICE and other immigration agents have caused at least 10 deaths since the start of Trump's second term in January last year, according to The Associated Press, cited by Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo). Two of those deaths occurred in Maine and Florida in the days after Salgado Araujo's killing.

In response to the killings, ICE's top official Tom Homan announced a "short pause" on traffic stops and said agents must now wear body cameras during vehicle stops, while President Donald Trump urged the agency to keep using traffic stops, according to Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo). Democratic lawmakers have demanded an investigation into ICE's hiring and vetting after allegations about the history of an officer involved in a separate Maine shooting.

Demonstrators planned a further "shutdown" of Houston on Friday, and similar rallies were held across the country on Saturday, including in Portland, Maine, where 26-year-old Colombian national Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero was fatally shot during a traffic stop on July 13, according to Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/20/protests-in-houston-continue-after-ice-killing-of-lorenzo-salgado-araujo). As of January 2026, ICE had deported more than 540,000 people from the US, per figures cited by Al Jazeera.