<\/p>\n
Kendrick Sampson of BLD PWR speaks during the public comment period at a Houston City Council meeting as community members gathered to protest the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and other deaths involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the country at Houston City Hall on Tuesday, July 14, 2026.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Mayor John Whitmire on Wednesday chastised Houstonians for their behavior during an impassioned public comment session this week, saying some speakers used explicit language and \u201ctook the Lord\u2019s name in vain,\u201d as he called for support from the council to help maintain decorum.<\/p>\n
More than 100 people crowded into City Hall on Tuesday to plead with council members to stand up against federal officials<\/a> and remove immigration agents from the city following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Magnolia Park last week.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Calls grow to remove ICE from Houston one week after fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Several public speakers cried and pounded the podium while they spoke, often demanding Whitmire or other council members\u2019 attention. Throughout, the sounds of protesters outside chanting “ICE out of Houston” could be heard in the chamber.<\/p>\n \u201cThose that are using this tragedy for either political purposes, to build their organization, to incite folks \u2013 this should not be the venue,\u201d Whitmire said during Wednesday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n While Tuesday\u2019s protest was protected by the First Amendment, he said, it was designed to disrupt. He also said protestors had showed up outside his home.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to allow that again,\u201d Whitmire said of the behavior at Tuesday\u2019s public session. \u201cWe had a good session yesterday, and I understand anger, passion, but also understand bad behavior \u2026 it\u2019s just wrong. It\u2019s wrong for Houstonians. It\u2019s wrong for young people to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n One speaker on Tuesday tried to bring a group of teens up with her as she spoke, which prompted a tense exchange with Whitmire. He attempted to tell them only one person could speak at a time, but they remained adamant on speaking, and the mayor ultimately let them finish.<\/p>\n Speakers took up most of the seats and lined the walls, cheering on speakers who made a point they agreed with and heckling council members who did not.<\/p>\n Council Member Edward Pollard said Wednesday that while he understood Whitmire\u2019s desire for decorum, he also understood the public was angry and seeking clarity as Whitmire has provided conflicting messages on the city\u2019s ability to investigate Araujo\u2019s death.<\/p>\n The Houston police department was well equipped to look into the incident, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just baffles me that in a time of uncertainty, we are leaning on the state government and the federal government on an issue that affects Houstonians when we should be taking the lead ourselves,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Whitmire initially said the city lacked the jurisdiction to get involved, as federal authorities are leading the investigation. He then directed Houston police to support District Attorney Sean Teare\u2019s independent probe and to offer resources to federal authorities.\u00a0Whitmire then\u00a0asked the Texas Rangers to investigate, and Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Wednesday the state agency\u00a0would look into the incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n Several council members agreed with Whitmire\u2019s comments Wednesday.<\/p>\n Council Member Sallie Alcorn referenced a letter she co-authored last year with Council Members Julian Ramirez and Amy Peck asking the mayor to ensure speakers understood city rules at the start of each meeting and that the mayor and council members did not extend any speaker\u2019s time beyond stated limits.<\/p>\n Council Member Joe Panzarella spoke in favor of the protesters and echoed their calls to remove ICE agents from Houston during Tuesday\u2019s session, and repeated that stance Wednesday.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m hearing enough criticism about the organization, ICE, that is actually doing the crime, that they are murdering Americans \u2013 citizens or not \u2013 across the nation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kendrick Sampson of BLD PWR speaks during the public comment period at a Houston City Council meeting as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-374506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}