<\/p>\n
Protesters rally outside the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe on Aug. 8 to demand the release of two witnesses in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.<\/p>\n
Daniella Jim\u00e9nez\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
The crowd gathered outside the\u00a0GEO Group-owned Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n
Daniella Jim\u00e9nez\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Protesters carrying signs calling for justice for Lorenzo Salgado march along North Loop 336 in Conroe.<\/p>\n
Daniella Jim\u00e9nez\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Organizers and community members marched with signs while chanting, \u2018Justice for\u00a0Lorenzo’ on Aug. 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniella Jim\u00e9nez\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Demonstrators march through downtown Houston during the “ICE Out of Texas \/ Marchamos Por Lorenzo” rally on Saturday, July 25, 2026. The march called for accountability in the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and reforms to federal and state immigration policies.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Protestors march from Hidalgo Park to the memorial site for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to find justice for his death in Houston, Friday, July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jacob Lujan\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Protestors march from Hidalgo Park to the memorial site for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to find justice for his death in Houston, Friday, July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jacob Lujan\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Protestors march from Hidalgo Park to the memorial site for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to find justice for his death in Houston, Friday, July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jacob Lujan\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Demonstrators march through downtown Houston during the “ICE Out of Texas \/ Marchamos Por Lorenzo” rally on Saturday, July 25, 2026. The march called for accountability in the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and reforms to federal and state immigration policies.<\/p>\n
Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Protesters chant and bang on trash cans as they stand behind a makeshift barricade during a protest in response to the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol officer earlier in the day, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo\/Adam Gray)<\/p>\n
Adam Gray\/AP<\/p>\n
About 50 protesters carrying decorated signs and umbrellas\u00a0marched toward an immigration detention facility in Conroe<\/a> two weeks ago. \u201cShow me what community looks like!\u201d they chanted. \u201cThis is what community looks like!\u201d<\/p>\n They were headed toward the Montgomery ICE Processing Center to demand the release of two witnesses in the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> in Houston. The demonstration was one of several held in the Houston area since Salgado\u2019s July 7 death.<\/p>\n The protesters made themselves heard along the busy highway, where some passing drivers honked in support. But the protest organizer acknowledged that the crowd was relatively small, especially for a shooting that garnered nationwide attention.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: How Trump’s immigration crackdown reshaped Houston’s immigrant landscape<\/a><\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who has called for a full investigation into the ICE shooting, said low turnout at Houston-area ICE protests in the weeks since Salgado was killed has disappointed her.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just feel like the whole Houston community didn’t really come together as Minneapolis and Chicago and LA,\u201d she said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle\u2019s editorial board on Aug. 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than a month after Salgado\u2019s death, some community leaders are reevaluating how they organize, looking for ways to draw larger crowds to protests and turn public outrage into sustained calls for reform. They pointed to several barriers: fear of ICE surveillance and retaliation, limited transportation, divisions among advocacy groups\u00a0and conservative, statewide leadership that restricts some protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n ICE shootings in Los Angeles, Chicago and the Twin Cities have drawn far wider public outrage in the streets, with thousands attending rallies to protest the violence. Organizers in those communities have been able to rely on labor and immigrant-rights networks built over decades, while Houston is still developing much of that infrastructure now.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, it’s not enough. It’s not enough for what we’re fighting for, and I do believe that it’s going to take all of us to work together,\u201d said Frida Adame, founder of We The Lucha, a grassroots organization that launched immediately after the shooting.<\/p>\n Marchers gather at City Hall on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elizabeth Conley\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Houston has rallied before. Why not now?<\/p>\n Houston is no stranger to mass protests. Thousands rallied after the Moody Park Riot of 1978<\/a>, while more recent demonstrations have packed streets around City Hall over George Floyd\u2019s killing<\/a>, the 2017 Women’s March\u202f<\/a>, and most recently\u00a0for No Kings<\/a> demonstrations against President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That history has made the smaller turnout at protests over Salgado\u2019s killing more striking. In Minneapolis, neighbors responded to enforcement beyond street protests, building rapid response hotlines, monitoring ICE activity from their cars and turning local businesses into organizing hubs after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI was very sad,\u201d Adame said, recalling the first vigil held for Salgado and his family. \u201cIt was mixed feelings because I was happy to see that there were people there, but it was sad to see how there was not a lot of people just comparing it to what we’ve seen in other states.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n People light candles at a memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a candlelight vigil following his shooting by a federal agent during a federal immigration enforcement operation in Houston on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. The shooting occurred the previous day and is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<\/p>\n Raquel Natalicchio\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n That contrast has left Garcia, D-Houston, and other advocates questioning whether Salgado\u2019s race or immigration status played a role in the shooting\u2019s failure to spark broader outrage locally and nationally. The muted response is particularly striking in Houston, where Census data shows foreign-born residents make up about 29% of the population, more than twice the 14% share in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n WHAT SALGADO’S FAMILY SAID:\u00a0‘I recognized him immediately’: Son recounts frantic search for father killed in Houston ICE shooting<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThere hasn’t been the outrage for the Salgado killing and the Maine killing like the way there was for two, to be blunt, white citizens,\u201d Garcia said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Garcia said the community\u2019s response to the killing of U.S. Army soldier and Houston native Vanessa Guillen in 2020 reflected Houston\u2019s diversity. That\u2019s not the case now, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a huge rally at our City Hall with thousands of thousands of people,\u201d she said. \u201cBut this time, it just seems like it’s been very, very Latino at most of the vigils.\u201d<\/p>\n She has also pointed to divisions among local immigrant rights groups, saying organizations often held separate rallies instead of pooling joint efforts. Adame acknowledged those tensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow can we as organizers ask people to unite if we among organizations can’t even get along?\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Still, Adame said those tensions have started to ease, with leaders putting aside questions over who should lead\u00a0and uniting behind the same goal: keeping ICE out of Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe had maybe, like, 28 organizations that joined in the same fight,\u201d she said, recalling one of the first joint protests organized after Salgado\u2019s vigil. \u201cIt was very beautiful to see because there were many organizations there, some that don’t necessarily work with one another.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fear of ICE shapes who shows up<\/p>\n Even as groups have begun working closely together, fear continues to keep some people away.<\/p>\n Norma Gonzalez, an organizer with immigrant-rights group Woori Juntos, said some immigrants worry that attending a protest could put them at risk of surveillance \u2014 or worse, deportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI feel like everything that has happened before in Minnesota, it was a warning to all of us to not stand up, to not be with one another,\u201d she said. \u201cThey’re afraid that if they show up somewhere, someone is going to come after them, most likely ICE.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz\u00a0generally supported protesters<\/a> in his state after Pretti and Good were killed, Texas\u2019 Republican leadership has opposed recent ICE protests.<\/p>\n Thousands of people protest ICE and Operation Metro Surge by marching through downtown Minneapolis on Jan. 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alex Kormann\/TNS<\/p>\n In 2025, the Texas Legislature passed a bill limiting how students can<\/a> protest on some university campuses. In 2024, the city of Houston under Mayor John Whitmire tried to limit protests in<\/a> residential areas, a response to pro-Palestinian activists who held rallies near his home and the homes of other public officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city also lacks sanctuary policies found in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis that limit how local law enforcement and other city employees assist federal immigration enforcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a red state, and we don’t have support from the government \u2014 at many levels \u2014 to be able to do things,\u201d said Cesar Espinosa, the co-founder and executive director of FIEL Houston<\/a>, a civil rights organization.<\/p>\n Espinosa and FIEL have led the immigrant community\u2019s efforts to end the Houston Police Department\u2019s cooperation with ICE. Espinosa said FIEL organizes activities in a way that minimizes interaction with local and federal law enforcement, but the fear of immigration enforcement is ever-present.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not to say that ICE couldn’t show up or that we couldn’t have a run-in with the police, but we try to mitigate that by trying to be as well organized as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the perception that protesting could be very dangerous has hurt in terms of turnout.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s size makes protesting harder<\/p>\n Fear isn\u2019t the only barrier organizers point to. Simply getting to a protest can be difficult in a city as sprawling as Houston. Gonzalez explained that traffic, limited public transportation, and parking can all hinder residents from attending.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s also very little parking anywhere,\u201d she said. \u201cSometimes people will want to go to an event, get there, and leave because they can’t find where to park.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Katy Murdza, a senior organizer with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and Houston Leads, said that some immigrants who have access to a car are also limiting how often they drive because of fear of law enforcement. The Chronicle reported\u00a0that Houston police officers spent nearly six times longer, on average, on traffic stops involving ICE<\/a> than on other stops after President Donald Trump took office last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n United States Representative for Texas\u2019 ninth district Al Green, middle, joins other protestors as they march through Canal Street to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican citizen.<\/p>\n Jacob Lujan\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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