The fatal shooting of a man in Houston by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Tuesday is the latest in a series of migrant deaths while in federal custody or interacting with agents in Texas since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a man from Mexico whom ICE said was undocumented, was shot after agents attempted to pull his vehicle over early Tuesday, according to an ICE statement. The statement said Salgado Araujo attempted to evade arrest and tried to run over a federal officer.
The shooting — the second of its kind in Texas — prompted local leaders to call for an independent investigation of the incident, as ICE’s description of the shooting mirrors previous contradictory accounts of fatal shootings by the agency, including the killing of 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island last year.
According to a Texas Tribune analysis of federal detainee death notifications and media reports, at least 14 other people have died in custody in Texas since January 2025.
A crackdown on illegal immigration was a cornerstone of Trump’s 2024 campaign for reelection, which he claimed was fueling violent crime in the country. Since his reelection, he has embarked on mass deportation efforts and deployed thousands of ICE agents across the country. The impact of his immigration enforcement has been particularly felt in Texas, which reportedly holds the most immigrants of any state at its 23 detention facilities.
What we know about Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was identified by ICE as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Public records searches revealed a 52-year-old Houston man by the same name had no criminal record in the state.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents were attempting to stop Salgado Araujo’s vehicle as part of an unspecified “targeted enforcement operation” in Houston’s East End, a predominantly Latino neighborhood.
At a news conference Wednesday, Salgado Araujo’s son, Ronaldo Salgado, said his father was on his way to his job building homes when the shooting happened. Salgado said his father may have feared he was about to get robbed, and if he had seen a law enforcement logo, he would have stopped.
Salgado Araujo was found with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, the Houston Fire Department said, and died at a local hospital, according to ICE.
Salgado said his father was in the process of applying for a work permit and had been in the country for almost 35 years.
Local leaders, including U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Christian Menefee, and the League of United Latin American Citizens, called for an independent investigation.
American killed
In March 2025, 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez was shot and killed by an ICE agent in South Padre Island after officers said he “bumped” them with his car. The death of Martinez, a Hispanic man born and raised in San Antonio, is the first known killing of an American by immigration agents under Trump’s second administration.
Martinez was driving in South Padre with his friend, Joshua Orta, in the passenger seat when they came upon a car accident. As they attempted to navigate the roadway, ICE agents said they asked him to stop, but Martinez bumped the legs of an officer. An officer shot at Martinez repeatedly, killing him.
Camera footage released by the Texas Department of Public Safety in March did not make it clear whether Martinez had hit the officers with his car, as they had claimed. And a Cameron County grand jury declined this spring to indict the officers involved in the shooting.
Deaths in detention
In addition to Martinez’s killing, a series of deaths in ICE detention sites in Texas has also prompted criticism of the expansion of immigration enforcement. Texas ICE facilities hold the greatest share of the country’s immigrant detainees, more than 18,700, according to federal data as of Feb. 5.
There have been at least 14 deaths of immigrants in ICE custody in Texas since 2025, according to ICE detainee death notifications. They include two deaths that resulted from a gunman opening fire at a Dallas detention facility, as well as the following:
- Nhon Nguc Nguyen, a 55-year-old Vietnamese man died in April 2025 of “natural causes,” ICE said, after being held at El Paso Processing Center. He first entered ICE custody in 2013 after serving a sentence for second-degree murder, according to ICE.
- Tien Xuan Phan, a 55-year-old Vietnamese man held at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center outside San Antonio, died in July 2025. ICE said the cause of death was still under investigation.
- Kai Yin Wong, a 63-year-old Chinese man, died in ICE custody in October 2025 at a San Antonio hospital after complaining of shortness of breath. He had been held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall and ICE said he died of “suspected complications from heart surgery.”
- Francisco Gaspar-Andres, a 48-year-old Guatemalan man, died in December 2025 at Camp East Montana of liver and kidney failure after being hospitalized for more than two weeks, ICE said. His wife told the El Paso Times that Gaspar-Andrés had been relatively healthy prior to his detention.
- Pete Sumalo Montejo, a 72-year-old Filipino man, died in December 2025 after being held at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe. ICE said he had been hospitalized several times for medical issues such as anemia and septic shock.
- Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani, a 48-year-old Pakistani man, died in December 2025 after being hospitalized for low oxygen and a high heart rate, after being held at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado.
- Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man, died on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana. His death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner. ICE initially had said Lunas Campos died “after experiencing medical distress”, before quietly updating the cause of death to “spontaneous use of force” by staff trying to prevent him from harming himself.
- Luis Gustavo Núñez Caceras, a 42-year-old man from Honduras, died in ICE custody on Jan. 5 from complications due to heart failure, according to ICE, after being held at the Montgomery Processing Center.
- Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan man, died on Jan. 14 at Camp East Montana. His death was reported as a “presumed suicide,”, and ICE sent him to a U.S. Army hospital rather than the local medical examiner, saying his autopsy would not be made public.
- Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a 41-year-old man who fought alongside U.S. forces, died on March 14, from an allergic reaction to an unidentified substance one day after he was detained for deportation proceedings, the Associated Press reported.
- Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican man, died on June 19, after being found unresponsive at the Webb County Detention Center. His official cause of death is pending an autopsy, according to ICE.
- Adrian Andreas Florian, an 85-year-old from Germany in ICE custody, died June 24 after receiving long-term care for health issues at the Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.
Aggression against ICE in Texas
Federal immigration authorities and police in Texas have faced aggression in recent years, and two gunmen have died in such encounters.
In September 2025, a 29-year-old man opened fire at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, fatally shooting one immigrant — 37-year-old Norlan Guzman-Fuentes of El Salvador — and injuring two other detainees. Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a 31-year-old Mexican immigrant who was one of the two injured people, died less than a week later, according to ICE. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said, and left notes saying he intended to target ICE officers.
More than a dozen people were arrested last year in connection with a July 4, 2025, shooting outside the Prairieland immigration detention center in North Texas. The group, which set off fireworks toward the detention center, faced various charges after correctional officers called police and a shooting took place, injuring a local police officer, according to public radio station KERA.
In July of 2025, another man fired dozens of rounds at federal agents leaving a U.S. Border Patrol facility in McAllen. One police officer was injured before authorities shot and killed the shooter, the Associated Press reported.
Increased ICE activity in Texas
ICE agents have been arresting more immigrants on the streets and at routine check-ins than under President Biden, but most of them don’t have criminal convictions.
Average daily arrests by ICE in Texas more than doubled from 85 under the Biden administration to 176 within Trump’s first six months in office, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of federal government data. From Trump’s inauguration to July 29, 2025, about 1 in 4 ICE arrests happened in Texas. During its first six months, the data show that the Trump administration arrested more people who didn’t have a criminal record than the Biden administration did in its final 18 months. In Texas, 58% of people ICE arrested under Biden had criminal convictions, compared to 42% under Trump, according to the data, which doesn’t specify the type or seriousness of those crimes..
What rights do immigrants have?
Under the U.S. Constitution, experts say immigrants have these rights when interacting with authorities:
- The right to remain silent by saying “I wish to remain silent.” Texas law requires anyone who is arrested or detained to give their name, date of birth and address, but they don’t have to answer other questions.
- The right to refuse an officer entry to their home without a valid search or arrest warrant signed by a state or federal judge (not an immigration court judge).
- The right to hire an attorney.
- The right to request an interpreter if they face removal proceedings.
People also have the right to ask an officer what agency they’re from and ask for their name and badge number and to record an encounter with police, according to experts. Having evidence and taking note of who the officers are, their badge numbers, what they were driving and what they said can become important to prove that someone’s rights were violated. However, police can ask someone, such as a bystander recording, to step away to a reasonable distance to carry out their work for questioning, detention, or arrest.
In any situation, experts say it is important for immigrants and people to remain calm to avoid escalating the situation. They also recommend preparing by having documents, such as scanned copies of proof of identity ready, and having a family plan in case of arrest, including contact information for the following:
- family members, friends and others who may be able to help;
- an immigration attorney or legal aid organization;
- their home country’s consulate or embassy.
Read more insights about immigrant rights from experts here.
Colleen DeGuzman and Lomi Kriel contributed.
Disclosure: El Paso Times and Valley Baptist Medical Center have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
