Flowers, candles and signs lay at the memorial of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week, at the 4800 block on Canal Street in the East End of Houston, Monday July 13, 2026.
Jacob Lujan/Houston Chronicle
What Houston means
Regarding “We need to hold ICE accountable for killing a Houstonian,” (July 8): We all have different versions of what we think America is. For some, it’s small towns and snowy Christmases. For others, it’s upper-middle-class neighborhoods and church camps. But for me, America is Houston.
I always go back to the late 1970s, when my mother would rent out two of the rooms in our small three-bedroom house in Southeast Houston. Men would come and go, renting the rooms and sending money back to their families. They were a blur of father figures and older brothers. They were family, even if it was for the short time they lived with us.
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Now, I’ve lived in the East End for the last 13 years. My neighbors wave and chat when I walk my dog. They bring me food when they have parties. They check on me after big storms. And their kids ask if they can come get the ball that found its way into my backyard.
I’m the older lady that those kids will remember when they grow up and start their own families. So, whether it’s my friends getting in trouble while their mother yells at them in Spanish, my neighbors helping me remove the tree that fell on my house (because that’s what neighbors do), or the old lady down the street who calls me mija and always has a hot dog for my dog when we walk around the block, these are the people I think of when I hear Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s family talk about him.
This U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting, just blocks from where I live now, has felt like an attack on the America I know because Salgado and his family are the Houston I know.
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Get in line
Regarding “Whitmire joins call for independent review of Houston’s ICE shooting,” (July 10): Mayor John Whitmire, as a long-time legislator and former chairman of the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice for 30 years, you understand that no one is above the law, and the lawless create chaos.
The man who died earlier this week knew that he was here illegally, and the family claims that after 35 years, he was now getting his paperwork in order to apply for a work permit. I can only assume this was only because he knew that ICE was now enforcing the law.
The simple, non-violent solution for everyone would be for the mayor to tell the agitators wanting to riot to disperse, allow the investigation to conclude and work with the governor and the federal government to encourage all who circumvented the legal immigration process to immediately self-deport. Now. If they want to follow the proper immigration rules, they can apply and get in line.
No one should ever be rewarded for violating the law.
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Investigation hurdles
Regarding “Stop rushing to judgment on ICE — and Houston Mayor Whitmire,” (July 9): Regardless of what Kenny Webster says, ICE does not think they owe Salgado’s family anything — and they will not get anything.
Webster’s attempt to tie Salgado to the shootings in Minnesota is doubly incorrect. Salgado was not an ICE protester; he was just a guy driving his crew to work, being chased by an unmarked vehicle. If ICE had been in a marked car with flashing lights, I am sure he would have stopped and complied. Webster seems much more interested in defending ICE than in finding out what really happened and why.
ICE should follow the established policies and procedures like any other law enforcement and identify themselves. If you want to pull over every van full of Hispanics you see, at least do it with lights and marked cars. ICE not having dashboard or body cameras is not an accident, but a policy statement. Why should ICE get off the hook when we would not let the sheriff or local police do so? Ask yourself, would you pull over for a black SUV chasing you in a possible road rage incident?
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Joe Williams, League City
Finding the truth
Regarding “Houston needs answers about this ICE shooting. Lots of answers.” (July 11): Sadly, I agree with the editorial. We may never know what happened. We may never get the truth and the whole truth. ICE agents are controlling the narrative. I can’t believe there was no dash cam. That just adds another level of deception.
But what is even sadder is that I have seen posts on social media stating that since he was undocumented, he got what he deserved. Deserved! He didn’t deserve to be shot dead like a rabid, mangy dog in the street. And I have seen other posts stating they fully believe the facts ICE is reporting. How can anyone fully believe what the out-of-control and unchecked agency is saying? We have had both undocumented and U.S. citizens shot and killed by ICE. This needs to end, and ICE should disband.
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