{"id":288459,"date":"2026-09-17T22:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288459\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T22:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T22:06:10","slug":"lehigh-students-faculty-gather-to-honor-life-lost-by-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288459\/","title":{"rendered":"Lehigh students, faculty gather to honor life lost by ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over 65 students and faculty gathered at the UC flagpole last night on Mexican Independence Day to honor Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed<\/a> by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Houston on July 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vigil was organized by Fuerza Mexicana, a campus organization that celebrates Mexican culture, heritage and identity, as well as Students Demand Action, the Lehigh chapter of a national gun violence advocacy organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendees were given candles and invited to write messages to the family on a large banner reading \u201cSomos Lorenzo,\u201d meaning \u201cwe are Lorenzo\u201d in Spanish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cSomos Lorenzo,\u201d means \u201cwe are Lorenzo\u201d in Spanish. Guests were invited to write messages of support on this banner. (Sophie Saunders\/B&W Staff)<\/p>\n

Vanessa Munoz-Hernandez, \u201827, president of Fuerza Mexicana, opened the vigil by speaking about her identity as a first-generation student and the daughter of two Mexican immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Mexican is not only about celebrating the foods, the music, the holidays, or the traditions that make our culture beautiful,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cIt also means acknowledging the realities and the injustices that affect our community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hernandez said that while Fuerza Mexicana was created to celebrate Mexican identity, supporting one another during difficult moments is also part of building community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Fuerza Mexicana was created, we wanted to build a community that could celebrate being Mexican openly and proudly,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cBut community also means showing up when things are painful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remembering Lorenzo\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hernandez then read a letter written by Salgado Araujo\u2019s son.The letter described the shock of losing his father without having the opportunity to say goodbye.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad, m\u00ed pap\u00e1,\u201d the letter read. \u201cWe never expected that death would come knocking on our door, so unfairly, so suddenly. We didn\u2019t even get a chance to say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter also described Salgado Araujo\u2019s support for his son\u2019s education and his determination to help his children build a future. Salgado Araujo\u2019s son wrote that his father had continued to support him, even when he struggled with his education and future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, he won\u2019t even get to see the fruit of his hard labor, \u2014 his last son\u2019s college graduation,\u201d the letter read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The letter ended by reflecting on Salgado Araujo\u2019s work as a carpenter and the legacy he left with his children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are his tools to change the world,\u201d Hernandez read.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the letter was read, Hernandez led attendees in a moment of silence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the vigil was ultimately meant to center Salgado Araujo as a person and a member of a family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight is ultimately about Lorenzo,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is about giving his loved ones and those who knew him a space to breathe, remember and be surrounded by community.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students at the vigil, Salgado Araujo\u2019s death also raised fears about what could happen to their own families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Genesis Medina, \u201829, attended to support the Salgado Araujo family and recognize the impact of his death on other immigrant families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a father, a son, a brother, a family member, a loved one,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Medina said the gathering demonstrated that members of the Lehigh community were willing to stand together during a difficult moment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can happen to anyone,\u201d Medina said. \u201cAt least seeing everyone that showed up here in the Lehigh community shows that we\u2019re still standing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kathleen Rodriguez, \u201828, said she wanted other members of the Lehigh community to recognize the significance of Salgado Araujo\u2019s death even if they did not personally know him or his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent July 7 in Houston\u2019s East End. Salgado Araujo was driving a work van carrying three other men when ICE agents began pursuing the vehicle during what federal officials described as a \u201ctargeted enforcement operation.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salgado was not the original target of the operation, according to federal officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Salgado attempted to evade the agents and used his van against them, prompting an agent to fire. The three men who were traveling with Salgado Araujo have disputed that account, and said the agents weren\u2019t in the path of the van when the shooting occurred, according to an article from the Los Angeles Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage released after the shooting has also raised questions about the federal account, though it does not capture the shooting itself.<\/p>\n

The Harris County District Attorney\u2019s Office is investigating the shooting, and a grand jury began hearing evidence in August. One of the men who was in the van with Salgado, Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, appeared<\/a> before the grand jury Sept. 16, the same day as the vigil.<\/p>\n

Matthew Teitelbaum, \u201827, also attended the vigil after hearing about Salgado Araujo\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the important thing is knowing that things like this are even going on,\u201d Teitelbaum said. \u201cSomething like this shouldn\u2019t be brushed under the table. This kind of injustice should be widely publicized, just as any death really would.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teitelbaum said it was refreshing to see the support across Lehigh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Faculty members also attended the vigil, including Anthony DiMaggio, a political science professor who teaches a course on social movements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DiMaggio said he encouraged his students to attend and wanted to show support for Salgado Araujo\u2019s family despite not knowing them personally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that kind of empathy, even if you don\u2019t know the person directly, can be important,\u201d DiMaggio said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The vigil concluded with attendees continuing to write messages to Salgado Araujo\u2019s family on the \u2018Somos Lorenzo\u2019 banner. Hernandez said the banner would be sent to the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Hernandez, the vigil represented what Fuerza Mexicana hopes to provide for its members: a community that is present through both celebration and grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity also means showing up when things are painful,\u201d Hernandez said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over 65 students and faculty gathered at the UC flagpole last night on Mexican Independence Day to honor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5451,119,121,120,1197,523],"class_list":["post-288459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-5-minute-read","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-feature","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}