Members of the national organization Socialist Alternative<\/a> are gathering at 6 p.m. Monday, July 20, at Houston Liberation Center, 2903 Telephone, to organize the community for a day of no work, no school and no shopping on Friday, July 24. Residents of Minneapolis coordinated a similar \u201cshutdown\u201d following the deaths<\/a> of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents earlier this year, and the presence of federal agents was reduced there after the uprising.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen ICE invaded Minneapolis in January, ultimately the labor movement shut down much of the city and that movement was responsible for kicking ICE out,\u201d said Socialist Alternative member Brian Harrison. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do that in Houston and hit the billionaires where it hurts, in their profits.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At a protest and march around Ervan Chew Park on Sunday, hundreds of residents called for local policies to protect immigrant communities, an end to the collaboration between the Houston Police Department and ICE<\/a>, and the immediate release of three witnesses who saw an ICE agent fatally shoot their friend Araujo in broad daylight on the streets of Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Araujo, 52, was driving to his job as a home builder just before 7 a.m. on July 7 when officers in unmarked vehicles attempted to make a traffic stop. Their vehicles had no lights or sirens, and Araujo\u2019s family has said it\u2019s likely he thought the people were trying to rob him and take his tools. They say tool theft is a common practice that can destroy a small business.\u00a0<\/p>\n Araujo had lived in the United States for 35 years and federal officials have said he was not the intended target of the ICE operation that day. Shortly after the shooting, ICE issued a statement that alleged Araujo ignored verbal warnings, rammed one of their SUVs with his van and \u201cweaponized\u201d his vehicle in an attempt to run over an officer, prompting the ICE agent to open fire into Araujo\u2019s van in self-defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n The officers weren\u2019t wearing body cameras and their vehicles weren\u2019t outfitted with dash cams. U.S. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, who represents the Magnolia Park area where Araujo was killed, says the unmarked federal vehicles on the scene showed no signs of being \u201crammed.\u201d The allegations made by ICE have been disputed by three men, including Araujo\u2019s brother, who were in the van and witnessed the incident. The witnesses were taken into custody and are being held at an ICE detention center<\/a> in Conroe.<\/p>\n Monse Montalvo was among the protesters at Sunday\u2019s rally. She came to Brazoria County from Mexico with her parents as an infant and is a DACA<\/a> recipient. When she was 16 years old, her father, a construction worker, was deported. She doesn\u2019t know if he\u2019s still alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I heard the news about Lorenzo, it felt like I was losing my own father,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was so heavy. If you come for one of us, you really do come for all of us. At this point, it\u2019s not about legal status. They\u2019re racially profiling. It doesn\u2019t matter if you have a work permit and a driver\u2019s license. We all have a target on our backs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Montalvo says the last time she saw her father, he said to her, \u201cYou are American so stand up and show up like you are American. This is your home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last week, federal authorities claimed that small plastic bags of a \u201ccrystal-like substance\u201d were found on the dashboard of Araujo\u2019s van and they suspected the substance was methamphetamine. Attorneys for the three witnesses responded<\/a> that the substance was granulated salt for a homemade electrolyte mixture they use while working outdoors in the Texas heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Teare and attorneys for the witnesses \u2014 Victor Salgado, Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Jos\u00e9 Trinidad Rojas \u2014 said last week they have begun the process of securing temporary work visas to block the deportation of the witnesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Numerous vigils<\/a>, rallies and protests have been held since the shooting occurred. In addition to the independent probes being led by the Texas Rangers and Harris County DA, the FBI is also investigating, but many Houstonians say they don\u2019t trust that a federal agency will provide an honest representation of what happened. More than 100 people spoke at a Houston City Council meeting last week calling for ICE to be removed from Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston Mayor John Whitmire welcomed the grieving speakers at the council\u2019s public comment session then later said some were disrespectful, disruptive, took the Lord\u2019s name in vain and used profanity. Undeterred by the mayor\u2019s reprimand, many at Sunday\u2019s protest carried signs that read, \u201cChinga la migra.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kaya Candia is originally from the Rio Grande Valley but now lives in Willis. She drove to Sunday\u2019s protest because \u201cno one deserves to die for going to work and wanting to have a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis man was doing everything right and he was murdered for it,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not OK. That\u2019s not right by any standards. I came to Houston so we can have our voices be amplified. What happens in the streets ends up changing the [legislative] seats. That\u2019s what we need right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sunday\u2019s protest began at the same time as the World Cup final match between Argentina and Spain and spanned several hours. Houston campaign events were also held Sunday afternoon for Harris County judge hopeful Letitia Plummer and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of the 200-or-so attendees at the Ervan Chew Park protest early Sunday afternoon said they wanted to make the message clear that the status quo of an aggressive ICE regime is not acceptable.\u00a0The crowd grew to more than 1,000 around 5 p.m., and Araujo\u2019s sons Ronnie and Lorenzo Jr. addressed the crowd. <\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a pause<\/a> on non-urgent ICE traffic stops last week but within 24 hours, President Donald Trump said they should resume.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least 22 people have died in ICE custody this year, and 10 have been fatally shot<\/a> by federal agents. Although Araujo was undocumented, he was in the process of getting his citizenship and had no criminal record. A week after Araujo\u2019s death, 25-year-old Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrer<\/a>o was fatally shot in Biddeford, Maine, under similar circumstances: he wasn\u2019t the intended target of an immigration sting and officers fired into his vehicle after claiming he\u2019d been uncooperative.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/American-socialists.jpeg\")
Members of the Socialist Alternative are planning a community shutdown for Friday, July 24. Credit: April Towery<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Monse-ICE-protest.jpeg\")
Monse Montalvo says Lorenzo Salgado Araujo\u2019s death was like losing her own father. Credit: April Towery<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kaya-ICE-protest.jpeg\")
Kaya Candia traveled from Willis to attend Sunday\u2019s protest in Montrose. Credit: April Towery<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Who-killed-Lorenzo.jpeg\")
Protesters are calling for federal officials to release the name of the ICE agent who fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Credit: April Towery<\/p>\n