Activists from five Austin advocacy groups rallied outside Travis County Commissioners Court on Wednesday, urging county and city officials to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using public property to support enforcement operations in Central Texas.
Organizers called on city and county officials to prohibit ICE from staging operations on city and county property, including county-funded health clinics and Austin ISD campuses, where activists said federal agents have operated during enforcement actions over the past week.
Alejandro Caceres speaks as protesters denounce ICE during a press conference hosted by Austin Sanctuary Network a Austin, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
The protest came a day after an ICE agent shot and killed a man from Mexico in Houston. Federal officials said Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a longtime Houston resident, tried to strike agents with his vehicle before being fatally shot.
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“We need our elected officials to step up,” said Alejandro Caceres, an organizer with the Austin Sanctuary Network. “They have stayed quiet, they have complied, they have done everything that Trump has asked them to do, and the violence has continued on our community. So, we are here to ask them, where are you?”
It’s not clear what authority, if any, city or county officials have to limit federal operations on public property. AISD and ICE spokespeople did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment. A Travis County spokesperson referred the American-Statesman to Community Care, which operates the clinics.
Protesters denounce ICE as they attend a press conference hosted by Austin Sanctuary Network a Austin, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Alejandro Caceres speaks as protesters denounce ICE during a press conference hosted by Austin Sanctuary Network a Austin, Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
The coalition of nonprofits included Hands Off Central Texas, which organized Austin’s No Kings protests; the Austin Sanctuary Network; Indivisible Austin; and the Austin chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
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Organizers also called for greater transparency in immigration enforcement, including creating a public database tracking arrests and deportations, along with information on whether those arrested have criminal records.
“ICE does not make Austin safer, it casts fear where there should be stability, fractures families, and erodes the trust people need to live and work in peace,” said Mario, an activist with the Austin chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, who declined to give his last name. “Just yesterday, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by ICE in Houston. This killing is the direct result of the militarization of our communities – the terror and corruption has to stop.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that agents attempted to stop Araujo, a grandfather and construction worker who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 35 years, during a targeted enforcement operation. DHS officials said Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle, prompting an ICE agent to fatally shoot him.
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Ronaldo Salgado, son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, holds a photo of his father during a news conference about the ICE shooting death in Houston Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
“We are not requesting, we are demanding the truth,” said Roman Palomares, national president of LULAC, at a Houston news conference Wednesday. “It is unacceptable, it is un-American, to use lethal force against a human being, then lock away the evidence, hide the video, silence the record, and expect his family, the people of Houston, and the American public to simply nod and say we believe you, because we don’t. We do not believe you. You have not earned that trust.”
The DHS spokesperson said the agency’s Office of Inspector General is leading an investigation into the shooting, and the FBI’s Houston Field Office is investigating the alleged assault on an ICE agent.
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Activists across the state have called for an independent investigation into the shooting led by the Houston Police Department and Harris County District Attorney’s office, though Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday he will not call for such an investigation. The activists said eyewitness accounts of the shooting contradict federal officials’ account, and no video of the fatal incident has yet been released publicly.
“Being an immigrant and organizing in this space feels like being choked, and the choking is getting tighter,” Caceres said of the Houston shooting. “The danger may not be here for (everyone) yet, but it is for us.”
People gather for a protest and candlelight vigil following an officer-involved shooting during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Houston on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. The shooting is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle