Lakiesha Lloyd, 43, an Army veteran and director of climate justice for Common Defense, is photographed during a news conference outside Houston City Hall in Houston on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, calling for greater transparency and accountability following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Photographs of people who were killed or detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are displayed on the ground outside Houston City Hall during a news conference calling for greater transparency and accountability following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Maxine Rebeles, 43, a U.S. Navy veteran, ( left) and Riley Lloyd, 15, a high school student, left, hold a sign outside Houston City Hall during a news conference calling for greater transparency and accountability following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
A veteran-led advocacy group joined dozens Tuesday night at City Hall, calling for local leaders to take action against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
Only July 7, an ICE agent fatally shot Salgado in the East End while he was on his way to work. Members of Common Defense Civic Engagement, which describes itself as a “grassroots organization of veterans and military families,” said they wanted the city to provide more support for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office during its investigation and press ICE to release witnesses held at the Conroe immigration detention center.
The veterans’ appearance broadened a pressure campaign that has drawn immigrant-rights advocates, labor unions and Salgado’s family to City Hall. Their involvement adds another constituency to calls for city officials to scrutinize Houston’s cooperation with ICE as the criminal investigation continues.
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“People that have raised their right hand in defense of this country are getting deported,” said Lakiesha Lloyd, the director of climate justice for the advocacy group. “My grandfather was a World War II veteran. This is not what he fought for.”
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Lloyd, a U.S. Army veteran, said she and other members of the group showed up for the City Council meeting’s public comment session to support Houston’s immigrant community.
“As veterans, we swore an oath to the Constitution to protect our country and constitution from threats, both foreign and domestic,” Lloyd said. “This is a threat to the community, and as veterans as a part of this community, we feel like it’s important for us to stand in solidarity in this moment.”
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According to the Migration Policy Institute, nearly 731,000 U.S. veterans were foreign born in 2022.
“Veterans are highly impacted by this because we have so many veteran immigrants,” said John Casas, a Marine Corps veteran. “I know so many people serving that were in the process of getting their papers done or joined specifically to get citizenship.”
Casas pointed to Shirly Guardado, the wife of Army Sgt. Ayssac Correa, whom ICE detained in Houston and later deported.
HEARINGS: Five key takeaways from Houston’s hearing on the ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
He said he hoped Tuesday’s public comment session would convince City Council to end the Houston Police Department’s cooperation with ICE.
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Other groups have made similar demands for local leaders to hold the federal immigration agency accountable, including the Party for Social Liberation and the Service Employees International Union in Texas.
Salgado’s son, Ronaldo Salgado, also called on City Council Tuesday to end the police department’s cooperation with ICE.
“if you’re scared about losing your jobs over doing the right thing, at least you still have your life,” Salgado said. “That can’t be said about my father.”
In a Monday interview with the Chronicle’s editorial board, District Attorney Sean Teare said investigators have collected enough surveillance footage from the area of the East End shooting to piece together what he described as Salgado’s “entire route.”
WITNESSES: Judge orders ICE to release one of the witnesses to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s shooting
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Teare said he wants his office’s evidence to be as complete as possible before presenting to a grand jury because the federal government would likely try to move any case from state court to federal court within 60 days — a fight that could drag on, he said.
But Teare expressed confidence his office could prevent such a move by proving the federal agent operated outside the scope of the agent’s duties during the shooting.