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<\/p>\n\n An FBI agent arrived at a crime scene and saw something suspicious: tied plastic baggies containing unknown substances resembling illegal drugs.\n <\/p>\n
\n He would need to laboratory test the items to be sure. To do that, he would also get a warrant.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Houston incident, following one of the latest deadly shootings by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, mirrors countless routine police encounters that happen daily across the country as officers find suspected drug paraphernalia and seek court orders to seize and test it for illegal substances.\n <\/p>\n
\n In this instance, however, the search warrant, shielded from public view when initially filed, was inexplicably unsealed and made public the next day. Justice Department veterans told CNN they can\u2019t remember a time when information that could be critical to a case was made publicly available while a criminal investigation was still underway.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis is absolutely abnormal,\u201d said Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. \u201cThis raises all sorts of red flags and all sorts of questions about why they would unseal this now.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The move quickly set off a firestorm, with immigration rights advocates accusing DOJ of trying to malign a dead man. And some legal experts are now questioning whether the department is playing politics in an unprecedented way with a high-profile criminal investigation.\n <\/p>\n
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\n The still-unidentified substances were allegedly found on the dashboard and floor of a van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a>, a Houston man ICE tried to pull over last week on suspicion of being in the country unlawfully. Importantly, he was not their original target. Instead, federal authorities said immigration officers were initially searching for undocumented migrants in another vehicle that resembled Salgado Araujo\u2019s van when they initiated the traffic stop.\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement, which mirrors similar past statements issued by the Department of Homeland of Security during the Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s nationwide immigration enforcement surge, ICE said Salgado Araujo \u201crammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer\u201d before an immigration officer shot and killed him in self-defense.\n <\/p>\n \n No video has surfaced depicting the moment of the shooting and none of the officers were wearing body cameras. Men who were riding in the van with Salgado Araujo and his brother, Victor, told attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra they did not attempt to ram officers<\/a>, nor put the officers in danger.\n <\/p>\n \n Salgado Araujo also had no prior criminal record despite the Trump administration\u2019s claims it is targeting the \u2018worst of the worst.\u2019<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n In an affidavit seeking to search the vehicle filed in federal court Tuesday, the FBI agent who responded to the incident wrote \u201cthe white in color crystal-like substances packaged in small clear plastic bags are consistent with how users of drugs package controlled substances for distribution, manufacturing, and possession,\u201d adding it was \u201cconsistent with methamphetamine.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n As is normal in active, high-profile investigations, the federal court docket shows the search warrant was originally filed by DOJ under seal, shielding its contents from public view.\n <\/p>\n \n But, a day later, in a move many who served in law enforcement viewed as baffling, the warrant appeared to have been suddenly unsealed while the ongoing investigation into the incident was still underway. It was quickly picked up by the media, with articles and TV segments spotlighting the FBI\u2019s suspicion that Salgado Araujo was transporting methamphetamine.\n <\/p>\n \n The US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of Texas did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the allegations in the warrant; why the warrant information was made public; and whether it was unsealed at the request of federal prosecutors.\n <\/p>\n \n Notably, attorney Ruby Powers representing Salgado Araujo\u2019s family refuted the notion he was in possession of drugs, saying in a statement the family believed the plastic baggies actually contained \u201cgranulated salt, which is paired with lemon and water as a homemade electrolyte mix used by outdoor workers in extreme Texas heat, not methamphetamine or any other illicit substance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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