The small bags found inside the van being driven by an immigrant who was killed by an ICE agent in Houston this month did not contain drugs, the Harris County district attorney\u2019s office has confirmed, contrary to initial statements from the federal government.<\/p>\n
The driver, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was shot during a traffic stop in early July, one in a string of fatal encounters as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n
F.B.I. officials obtained a warrant to search Mr. Salgado Araujo\u2019s van after telling a federal judge that they believed that a \u201ccrystal-like\u201d substance in plastic bags inside the vehicle might be methamphetamine. But family members of the victim repeatedly disputed that claim.<\/p>\n
The district attorney\u2019s office on Friday confirmed that the substance tested negative for narcotics and illicit drugs. The office has declined to comment further on the test results, citing an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
The area\u2019s congresswoman, Representative Sylvia Garcia, said in a statement on Friday that the substance was an \u201celectrolyte powder to stay hydrated working outside in the hot Texas summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruby Powers, a lawyer for Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, who is the victim\u2019s younger brother and was a passenger in the van, previously said in a statement<\/a> that the substance was granulated salt. She said that Mr. Salgado Araujo, a construction worker, often mixed the salt with water as a means of staying hydrated, a common practice among outdoor workers.<\/p>\n In a statement on Friday, Ms. Powers said that the federal government\u2019s claims about the contents of the bags had diverted \u201cattention from what actually matters in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLorenzo was shot, and no lab report answers for that,\u201d she said, adding that Mr. Salgado Araujo\u2019s family expects to receive full test results on Monday, which will confirm what, exactly, the substance is. <\/p>\n The dispute over the bags came after the F.B.I.\u2019s application for a search warrant \u2014 a document typically filed under seal \u2014 was submitted publicly<\/a>. The F.B.I.\u2019s Houston field office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe attempt to cast a shadow over Lorenzo Salgado\u2019s name has failed,\u201d Ms. Garcia, a Democrat, said in her statement.<\/p>\n Mr. Salgado Araujo, who was from Mexico and had lived in the United States for 35 years, was on his way to a construction job on the morning of July 7 with his brother and two other workers when federal immigration agents tried to stop his van.<\/p>\n Federal officials have accused Mr. Salgado Araujo of ramming into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle before an agent shot him in the abdomen.<\/p>\n The agents had been searching for a different person, the Department of Homeland Security has said. The passengers in the van have disputed the agency\u2019s account.<\/p>\n Mr. Salgado Araujo\u2019s death added to a growing list of encounters between immigration agents and people in vehicles amid the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation campaign. About 20 people have been shot at in their cars<\/a>, some of them fatally.<\/p>\n Within a week of the shooting in Houston, a federal immigration agent shot and killed a man in a vehicle in Biddeford, Maine<\/a>. In the hours after the shooting, details emerged to suggest that immigration agents may have been seeking a different person.<\/p>\n There are multiple investigations into the encounter between agents and Mr. Salgado Araujo, including by local agencies that have said federal officials were not cooperating with their Houston counterparts. His brother, Victor Salgado Araujo, remains in ICE custody, Ms. Powers said on Friday. In her statement, she repeated a call for his release \u201cso that he can participate fully in the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n