Attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra speaks during a news conference in Houston on Friday, July 10, 2026, regarding the officer-involved shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a federal immigration enforcement operation and the detention of the two passengers who were in the vehicle with him.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
The immigration attorney representing two of the witnesses in Houston’s fatal ICE shooting pleaded no contest to domestic violence battery during a sentencing hearing in Florida on Wednesday, according to court records.
Hugo Balderas-Ibarra, the attorney for Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Jose Trinidad Rojas, was charged with false imprisonment and domestic violence battery — a third-degree felony and first-degree misdemeanor — in Seminole County, Fla., court records show. Prosecutors agreed not to pursue the false imprisonment charge.
Balderas-Ibarra was sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation, an intervention program and 40 community work service hours, plus court costs, according to court records.
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The hearing took place in Sanford, north of Orlando. Balderas-Ibarra, who was initially charged in December, declined to address the hearing when reached for comment by the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I’m focusing on my clients,” he wrote in a statement.
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Texas ethics attorney Jason Panzer said a felony conviction could have led to disciplinary hearings with the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Board of Law Examiners, which granted Balderas-Ibarra a probationary license last year. The state bar could have suspended or disbarred Balderas-Ibarra, and the Texas Board of Law Examiners could revoke his probationary license, according to Panzer.
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He said a state bar disciplinary process would now be unlikely without a felony conviction, but discipline from the Texas Board of Law Examiners could still amount to a revoked license, extended probation or an update to probationary terms.
The Houston Chronicle reached out to the Texas Board of Law Examiners for comment.
Balderas-Ibarra declined to elaborate on whether he would represent Tirado and Rojas beyond a potential sentencing, and he took to Facebook on Tuesday night to talk about U visa certifications for his clients. He thanked Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who said his office certified Balderas-Ibarra’s clients as material witnesses, a step in the process toward obtaining U Visas, during an interview that CBS News aired the same night.
“Focus on what’s important,” Balderas-Ibarra wrote to the Chronicle.
His defense attorneys in Texas and Florida did not return a request for comment.
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His clients, Tirado and Rojas, were in the van with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo when an ICE agent shot and killed Salgado in Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood last Tuesday. The agents pursued the van in unmarked vehicles, and Balderas-Ibarra has helped publicize key testimony from the witnesses who shared accounts that conflicted with ICE’s explanation of the shooting.
ICE said Salgado rammed an agency vehicle and tried running over an officer, but the men said no agent was in the path of the van or in danger of being struck. Tirado, Rojas and Salgado’s younger brother, Victor, have been in ICE detention since the shooting.
Harris County indictment is latest notch in criminal history
Less than a month after Balderas-Ibarra was charged in Florida, state prosecutors filed another criminal charge against him in Harris County. He was accused of family violence assault, which is a felony, tied to an incident that allegedly occurred at Houston’s Hobby Airport in May 2024.
A criminal complaint states he threw his girlfriend’s luggage on the ground and grabbed her by the neck when she went to pick it up, squeezing harder and twisting her throat as people drew closer. He was indicted in February of this year.
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The indictment states he impeded her normal breathing and blood circulation. Balderas-Ibarra has not been convicted of the crime.
The recent charges are part of an even deeper criminal history that traces back to Iowa, where Balderas-Ibarra was found guilty of burglary in 2010 and several prior misdemeanors.
Balderas-Ibarra earned Texas law license last year
Balderas-Ibarra received his law license in Texas in January 2025, less than a year after the alleged incident at the airport, according to the State Bar of Texas.
He has a probationary license, which the Texas Board of Law Examiners grants if “the protection of the public requires the temporary monitoring of the applicant in question” or for issues related to “chemical dependency” and DWI cases, according to the board’s rules.
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He graduated with a law degree from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University about six years before his licensing and now runs a solo law practice in Houston.
Questions about role in ICE shooting case
Balderas-Ibarra has not signaled any plans to step away from the ICE shooting case but on Wednesday introduced a Florida attorney named Dayliset Rielo as an addition to the legal team. Some have said they hope the case can steer clear of distractions related to Balderas-Ibarra’s criminal history while attorneys work to defend the three men in ICE custody.
Jed Silverman, a criminal defense attorney in Houston who has held seats on state bar grievance committees, chided Balderas-Ibarra for entering the high-profile case with criminal “baggage” and called on him to step down from the case.
“This is ridiculous,” he said, speaking in his capacity as a private attorney. “It’s like — you shouldn’t have put yourself out there knowing this.”
David Cruz, the communications director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he would personally step aside if he became a distraction to an issue as critical as the ICE shooting case. He refrained from directing any demand to Balderas-Ibarra, stressing that was his personal and professional decision.
“For us as an organization, we would hate to see that issue, or issues, become a distraction from the most important priority for all of us, and that is the wellbeing of the family and justice for our community,” Cruz said.