The death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, at the hands of federal immigration agents has further strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico.
Salgado Araujo was the 17th Mexican to die either in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or during an ICE enforcement operation since January 2025, prompting Mexican officials to prepare criminal complaints in the United States.
As the case unfolds, reports now indicate that ICE officers who fatally shot Salgado Araujo in Houston were actually looking for a different individual before stopping his vehicle.
Confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security on July 9 and reported by The New York Times, ICE agents were reportedly searching for two people from Guatemala when they stopped Salgado Araujo.
The 52-year-old Mexican national was allegedly on his way to work on July 7 and was driving three other people in a white van. According to the DHS statement, surveillance of the intended targets had identified two white vans at the property.
"On July 7, officers were almost at the target's address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop," the statement reads.
According to a July 7 DHS statement, the agency claims Salgado Araujo used his vehicle in an attempt to evade arrest. He allegedly rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle and refused to follow officers' commands before one of them fired his weapon in what the agency described as "self-defense."
On July 7, 2026, at approximately 6:50 AM CT, ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop as part of a targeted enforcement operation to arrest an illegal alien. The driver of the vehicle, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo—an illegal alien from Mexico—attempted to evade arrest.… https://t.co/2TWG3GuOr9
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 7, 2026
Salgado Araujo was struck and transported to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries. Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen before his vehicle struck an ICE vehicle.
An ICE spokesperson told The New York Times that the officers who fatally shot Salgado Araujo were not wearing body cameras because personnel in that field office had not yet been equipped with them. The spokesperson attributed the lack of cameras to recent government shutdowns, saying they disrupted the procurement process for ICE field offices.
As reported by multiple outlets, Salgado Araujo had no criminal record and had lived in the United States for about 35 years. According to his family, he was close to obtaining a work permit.
The New York Times reported that three other people were in the vehicle when the shooting occurred. A person familiar with the case identified them as José Trinidad Rojas Pliego, Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, the victim's younger brother.
The three men told attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra that ICE's account of the incident does not reflect what happened.
"At no point did they use the van to ram into the ICE agents and at no point were these ICE agents' lives ever in any danger," the lawyer said in an Instagram post, as reported by CNN. He added that the men said an ICE agent got out of the vehicle and almost immediately began shooting at the white van after ramming it.
A video shared with CNN by Houston resident Juliet Martinez shows a federal agent speaking on the phone while kneeling over a wounded man lying face down and moaning in pain beside a white SUV. Martinez told CNN the right side of the man's abdomen was bleeding.
"He was screaming for help and screaming that he was in pain," Martinez recalled. "He yelled, 'Help me! They shot me!'"
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government considers some of the deaths of Mexican citizens at the hands of ICE to be homicides and human rights violations. Sheinbaum also argued that Salgado Araujo's death points to a concerning pattern of mistreatment of Mexican citizens in the United States.
In addition, Foreign Affairs Secretary Roberto Velasco said the Mexican government will pursue legal action "against whoever is responsible," including U.S. government agencies and the companies that operate immigration detention centers.
