HOUSTON — Attorneys for the three passengers who were riding in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s van when he was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on July 7 have asked a federal judge to release them from immigration custody, arguing their detention is unlawful.
The three men have remained at an ICE detention facility in Conroe since the shooting.
According to court filings, attorneys for Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego said both men have lived in the United States for decades, have no criminal history and “do not pose a national security or public safety threat.”
The petitions for writs of habeas corpus also argue the men were victims “of a violent crime at ICE’s hands” after allegedly being threatened with imminent bodily injury by a deadly weapon.
The requests stem from the July 7 shooting in Houston’s East End. Surveillance video obtained by KHOU 11 Investigates shows two unmarked ICE sport utility vehicles following Salgado Araujo’s van before the encounter ended on Canal Street, where an ICE agent fatally shot him.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has certified U-visa applications for the three passengers as witnesses in the case. Court records state prosecutors are investigating possible criminal offenses, including murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.
In the court filings, Rojas Pliego and Tirado Pantoja disputed ICE’s account that Salgado Araujo attempted to run over an agent. Both men said federal officers were positioned alongside the van, not in front of it.
Rojas Pliego alleged agents fired more than one shot.
“They suddenly cornered us, and we told Lorenzo to stop the van, but they had already fired once. When Lorenzo stopped the van, the officer shot him anyway,” Rojas Pliego said in a statement included in the filings.
Tirado Pantoja also alleged that after Salgado Araujo was removed from the scene, “another agent came and switched guns with the agent that fired the shot at Lorenzo.”
The allegations have not previously been made public and have not been independently verified.
The third passenger, Victor Salgado, the brother of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, also filed a petition seeking release from ICE custody. His attorney filed the petition under seal, arguing that public disclosure could expose him to retaliation or intimidation.
