This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/p>\n
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I\u2019m Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n
Just within the same hours as President Trump giving his address, in Houston, Texas, hundreds of community members gathered Thursday evening for a public viewing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S. citizens, shot and killed by an ICE agent on July 7th. Members of the public lined up outside the chapel at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home in Houston\u2019s predominantly Latino East End District before making their way inside, where the body of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was laid in an open casket, his sons standing by their father\u2019s casket for hours, greeting mourners who wore different shades of blue at the family\u2019s request, many of them in tears. A mariachi band wearing all black stood by the casket, filling the room with music. Photos and videos of some of the family\u2019s most joyful moments were projected in the background. Several altars also adorned the chapel: One table held Salgado Araujo\u2019s construction tools, including two of his white hard hats, while another displayed two of his Mexico soccer jerseys.<\/p>\n
Democracy Now!\u2019s Mar\u00eda In\u00e9s Taracena spoke to some of the people who attended. She was outside the funeral home because recording was not permitted inside.<\/p>\n
CESAR ESPINOSA: My name is Cesar Espinosa, and I am the executive director of FIEL.<\/p>\n
The feeling inside is it paints a picture of a man who loved his family, who loved his kids, who loved life. And his life should have never been taken away on that fateful Tuesday morning, July 7th, you know, three days after our Independence Day, on the streets of Magnolia Park. He should still be alive today. At this time right now he should be having dinner at home. He should have been listening to his music, getting ready for the next workday, which he would have done, regardless.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s the feeling, and there\u2019s one of somberness, but it\u2019s also a very peaceful kind of, you know, atmosphere. There\u2019s a lot of people wearing blue, which apparently was his favorite color. There\u2019s jerseys. There\u2019s pictures, family pictures, shrines, things that the people have brought for the family. They\u2019re giving away these little soccer balls, because just a few days before he was killed on our streets, he was watching the World Cup. And according to his sons, up until the moment when he died, he was still upset that Mexico had lost.<\/p>\n
Looking back on history, it brought back memories of Emmett Till, when his mom also let the community grieve with them. And she wanted to show the world what they had done to her son, and I think today, this family also wanted to show the world what they had done to their father.<\/p>\n
MAR\u00cdA IN\u00c9S TARACENA: Ruby Powers, you are the attorney for Victor Salgado, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo\u2019s younger brother, who witnessed the fatal shooting. We were just at the public viewing with the family, with community members. Earlier today, you were visiting Victor in an ICE jail here in Texas, about an hour from Houston.<\/p>\n
RUBY POWERS: You know, I went there to work on our paperwork but also to check in with him, because I\u2019d been a few days and wanting to make sure he was doing well. But, yes, to see him and know that he\u2019s wanting to be here, but he\u2019s only here in spirit at the moment.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, we requested that Victor be able to come to his brother\u2019s visitation to pay his last respects, and we heard that ICE granted that request. We weren\u2019t given the when or where or the details, but we\u2019re hoping that it happens soon. And so, you know, he was looking forward to that. But I know that it\u2019s hard for him, because even if he is allowed, it\u2019ll be a very brief encounter, and he won\u2019t be able to interact with a lot of his family.<\/p>\n
MAR\u00cdA IN\u00c9S TARACENA: And also, if he\u2019s allowed to come to the public viewing, it\u2019ll be with the presence of law enforcement, of ICE agents.<\/p>\n
RUBY POWERS: Well, my understanding is that if and when it happens, it\u2019ll be very private. And so, but, yes, there\u2019s definitely conditions on that visit. But having practiced for 18 years, I\u2019ve never heard of someone being released for a situation like this. But this is a very unique situation. But you\u2019re right. You know, it\u2019s challenging. But I think that he\u2019d rather be here, even if it\u2019s with those conditions, than not having the chance.<\/p>\n
HAI BUI: Hi. My name is Hai Bui. I\u2019m the founder of We the People Organize.<\/p>\n
When I walked in, it\u2019s the families are on both sides, full, full, amazing, a big family. And, of course, they told me, yeah, go to the front to give respect. And as a Buddhist, I pray for his, you know, good wishes, and we\u2019re here to help to fight justice for him and do whatever it takes to stick with this case. Every week, we always pray that this wouldn\u2019t happen, to be honest with you. We just \u2014 we knew that the numbers, because our city has the highest immigrant, and we just knew that \u2014 we just prayed it won\u2019t happen. And it did happen.<\/p>\n
AMY GOODMAN: That was Hai Bui, Ruby Powers and Cesar Espinosa, who attended the public viewing of the body of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston Thursday evening. Special thanks to our team at Democracy Now!: Mar\u00eda In\u00e9s Taracena, Hany Massoud and Nicole Salazar.<\/p>\n
After the viewing, Lorenzo\u2019s eldest son Ronaldo posted a note of thanks on Facebook, saying in part, quote, \u201cHouston is such a wonderful place full of love. My dad made the right choice in choosing this place to spend the rest of his life and raise his family, surrounded by a strong community that supports and watches each other\u2019s backs. May my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, rest in peace. And with y\u2019all\u2019s love and support, may his legacy live forever,\u201d Ronaldo said.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said it would reverse plans to halt traffic stops following the shooting deaths of two immigrants by ICE agents in less than a week, in Houston and Biddeford, Maine. The U-turn came after President Trump wrote on social media, \u201cwe CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.\u2019s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!\u201d Trump added, \u201cit won\u2019t happen on my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming up, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House adviser Stephen Miller are pushing for a global crackdown on leftist organizations. Stay with us.<\/p>\n
[break]<\/p>\n
AMY GOODMAN: More of \u201cSensaci\u00f3n\u201d by Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical. Today, their new album is released. It\u2019s called Helado Tropical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-377147","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\/377147","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=377147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}