A federal immigration record obtained by the Houston Chronicle provides the most detailed account yet from government agents of the events leading up to the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, revealing how an ICE operation that began with a tip from a law enforcement agency ended in a pursuit of a different white van through Houston’s East End.
The records were filed in federal court by a member of the U.S. Attorney’s office and described where agents conducted surveillance, how they came to focus on the van Salgado was driving and what agents say happened during the pursuit. The U.S. Attorney’s office objected to the document’s disclosure in a Friday statement.
The records say ICE officers activated emergency lights and sirens and allege the van struck two federal vehicles before coming to a stop, claims that witnesses have contradicted. The documents do not identify Salgado by name or describe the moment an agent opened fire, but they describe the incident in which he was driving a vehicle with three passengers.
READ MORE: Everything we know about the fatal Houston ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
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Such immigration records are typically redacted or filed under seal, according to lawyers involved in immigration cases, and the federal government has repeatedly declined to identify the agents involved in Salgado’s killing or provide key evidence to local investigators.
“These are protected, limited-access filings. And they were supposed to stay that way,” U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz said Friday.
Reitz did not address who was responsible for ensuring the document did not become public, but criticized the decision to publicize it, saying it would lead to people doxing federal agents and could jeopardize the investigation.
“I strongly object to its dissemination, and my office is actively examining whether the law or court rules were broken in the process,” he said.
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The record says “DPS troopers” provided the initial tip to ICE agents. The Texas Department of Public Safety denied having any involvement.
“The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) did not provide any information of any sort to ICE related to the location where the (shooting) occurred, any vehicles, other individuals or Mr. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo,” DPS said in a statement.
The Texas Rangers, a branch of the state law enforcement agency, are investigating the shooting at the request of local officials.
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who has called for more transparency in the investigation, criticized federal officials for trying to withhold key details about the case.
“The bottom line is that the federal government is doing everything in its power to block transparency in this case,” said Garcia, D-Houston. “The identity and location of the ICE agents involved are still unknown. The details of this report have also been contradicted by eye witness statements.”
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The new documents were filed Aug. 11 by a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in response to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus for Daniel Tirado Pantoja — one of the passengers driven by Salgado who was detained and later released from ICE detention. The writ is a legal filing challenging Tirado’s detention.
MORE COVERAGE: Can Houston officials investigate Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death? Yes, but it would be complicated.
The record was partially redacted but not sealed, and obtained Thursday by the Houston Chronicle through a public terminal at the federal courthouse. It contained Tirado’s photo, personal identifying information such as date of birth and fingerprints, as well as the names of the report’s authors and other agents.
The officers’ accounts mirror Reitz’s remarks in July that the federal agents mistakenly chased Salgado’s van through the neighborhood after confusing him with another target.
The federal record says the agents activated their emergency lights and sirens at two points during the pursuit.
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“Officers activated their emergency lights and the white van again fled,” one of the records states. The documents describe how two crews of federal agents pursued the van. The van’s driver turned into one of the ICE vehicles and “struck the ICE officers,” the records state.
One of the records said the driver “rammed” the ICE vehicle, “constituting assault on an officer.”
Lorenzo Salgado Jr., left, and Ronaldo Salgado, right, sons of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, are shown during a news conference about the ICE shooting death of their father in Houston Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
As the van came to a stop, the agents alleged they approached the vehicle “wearing their clearly marked ICE-issued ballistic vests and identified themselves.”
The arrest warrant and records filed in immigration removal cases are akin to a local police report, said Travis Fife, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. Investigators use the document to lay out the reasons for taking action and the allegations against a person in their custody.
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Claims that agents activated their emergency lights and that Salgado tried to run them over contradict the accounts of some eyewitnesses who say the agents drove unmarked vehicles that didn’t use lights or sirens. The witnesses also said Salgado didn’t try to run into the agents.
Staff writers John Wayne Ferguson, Benjamin Wermund and Julián Aguilar contributed to this report.