A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to not deport a witness in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal immigration agent earlier this month in Houston.
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison issued the directive on Monday after an attorney for Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, a passenger in Salgado Araujo’s van during the shooting, filed a petition seeking his release from immigration detention.
The order also said Rojas Pliego cannot be transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility outside of the Southern District of Texas while the petition is pending without the court’s permission.
DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rojas Pliego, a Mexican citizen, has lived in the United States since 1998 and has no criminal record, according to his petition. The filing added that he is in a common law marriage with a U.S. citizen, with whom he has three children and four stepchildren — all of whom are also U.S. citizens.
Rojas Pliego has been in ICE custody since the July 7 shooting. The petition, filed on Monday, says he is detained in the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, north of Houston.
“Petitioner is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community,” the filing said.
The two other passengers in the van — Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Salgado Araujo’s brother Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo — have also filed similar petitions seeking release from ICE detention.
Tirado Pantoja came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1996 and also has no criminal history, according to his petition. He is also in a common-law marriage with a legal permanent resident — commonly known as a green card holder. He has a son and a stepdaughter, both of whom are U.S. citizens.
Ruby Powers, a Houston immigration attorney representing Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, who was the front seat passenger, asked a federal district judge to keep her client’s petition sealed because she fears the high-profile case could put Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo and his family in danger of “retaliation or intimidation.”
