A lawyer representing three witnesses to the killing of a man in Texas has said they contest the United States government\u2019s account of the shooting, which was committed by an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s remarks were a reaction to the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a July 7 traffic stop in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n
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Salgado Araujo\u2019s killing is the latest in a string of deaths related to immigration enforcement under US President Donald Trump, who has led a mass deportation drive since the start of his second term.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said all three men in the van with Salgado Araujo reject a Department of Homeland (DHS) statement saying that the father of three \u201crammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle\u201d and \u201cweaponised his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement\u201d.<\/p>\n
Instead, the three men said there had been no ramming and that the ICE agent had opened fire from the passenger side window.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter speaking with these three men that were in the vehicle with Lorenzo, I have no doubt that what these ICE agents are saying is completely false,\u201d Balderas-Ibarra said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt no point did they ever use the van to ram into the ICE agents, and at no point were these ICE agents\u2019 lives ever in any danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salgado Araujo and the three men were on their way to a job site when they were stopped by immigration officials. All four were living in the US without documentation, though they were reportedly not ICE\u2019s intended target.<\/p>\n
Balderas-Ibarra also recounted the last words of Salgado Araugo.<\/p>\n
\u201cYa me mataron,\u201d he said, using the Spanish phrase for \u201cThey\u2019ve already killed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calls for investigation<\/p>\n
Salgado Araujo\u2019s killing has sparked new condemnation of the tactics used by federal immigration agents, who have been accused of excessive violence, racial profiling and bypassing civil rights protections.<\/p>\n
His death has also renewed criticism of how Trump administration officials respond to incidents of agent-involved violence.<\/p>\n
Critics point out that, in many high-profile cases, top government figures have framed the victims as aggressors.<\/p>\n
In January, for instance, immigration enforcement agents shot and killed two US citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, in separate incidents in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem quickly described both victims as perpetrating acts of \u201cdomestic terrorism\u201d. But\u00a0evidence in both cases contradicted the officials\u2019 initial accounts, either in part or in whole.<\/p>\n
In the case of Good, video appears to show an ICE agent standing in front of her stopped vehicle. She can be seen turning her wheels in an apparent effort to drive around the officer, who opened fire after stepping to the side of her SUV.<\/p>\n
In Pretti\u2019s case, footage showed immigration agents wrestling him to the ground as he sought to film them on his phone. An agent is then seen removing a gun from Pretti\u2019s holster, which he was legally allowed to carry, before another officer opens fire and fatally shoots him.<\/p>\n
Investigations into both incidents have yielded few answers.<\/p>\n
In a separate case, an ICE agent was arrested in May after he faced accusations of making false reports in the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man.<\/p>\n