Houston Chronicle: Feds are still blocking an independent investigation into ICE shooting death
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More than two weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo dead on a Houston street, the U.S. federal government stands in the way of an independent, transparent investigation.
ICE hasn't cooperated with local law enforcement, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told a Congressional forum in Houston on Friday. In fact, at the same time that Teare was answering representatives' questions, his key witness was in a federal hearing about whether or not he'd even get to stay in the country.
Salgado's brother, Victor, is "by all accounts the most material witness in this shooting," according to Teare.
Victor Salgado's account of the shooting directly contradicts what the Department of Homeland Security claims happened July 7 on Canal Street. DHS says that Salgado used his white van as a weapon and officers fired in self-defense. Victor tells a very different story.
Teare and his investigators, though, haven't been able to interview Victor the way they'd like -well-rested and free. Victor and the other two witnesses are locked up, detained by the agency that shot Victor's brother.
Normally, when there's a witness like Victor who might be deported, law enforcement agencies help them secure a special visa allowing them to stay, so that the investigation and any trial can proceed. Teare's office has moved to do that for Victor and the other two witnesses.
Teare said it's essential that ICE release Victor, along with the two other witnesses who were in Salgado's van. Such detention of witnesses is "unheard of," he told the members of Congress.
From the get-go with this case, federal officers haven't cooperated with local law enforcement. Normally, when law enforcement officers from any agency kill someone, Teare is alerted and his investigators are invited onto the scene. That's to promote transparency and accountability. But it didn't happen this time.
"I've never seen behavior like this," Teare said.
Though the Houston FBI field office has met with Teare's investigators, DHS has not responded.
Weeks after the shooting, the federal government hasn't even named the ICE agents involved. It hasn't produced the weapon. ICE hasn't released reports about what happened.
ICE officials have already admitted that Salgado wasn't their intended target. They claim it was a case of mistaken identity, that they were originally looking for a pair of Guatemalan nationals. According to Teare, that means there should be a field operational worksheet, or FOW, saying as much. Then the officers would have written an offense report documenting what happened when they aggressively chased down Salgado's white van.
Why won't the feds release those documents?
These are "standard things that we get from any law enforcement agency we're investigating," Teare said. But in this case, "we've been given nothing."
Instead, the feds shared a dubious warrant alleging Salgado may have had drugs in his van. Those "drugs" turned out to be electrolyte powder, Rep. Sylvia Garcia later confirmed.
This behavior is unacceptable. Our federal government has abandoned accountability. It has abandoned transparency. It has abandoned our safety.
Friday's hearing yielded no new answers in this case that has ripped open Houston's heart. But the hearing did make clear how hard the federal government is fighting to keep the truth from coming to light.
It also made clear that the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign isn't making Houstonians safer. It's putting us all in more danger. Not only are our communities subject to unmarked vehicles, masked agents, aggressive quotas and apparent racial profiling, but the feds are stopping our own local law enforcement officers from doing their jobs.
That's not just in Salgado's case. "The tactics being used by ICE are threatening public safety overall," Teare testified.
He told the congressional representatives that in one case, a material witness in a pending murder case was "literally on a plane to El Salvador" when his team was able to intervene. If the witness had been deported, Teare's team would have had a much harder time prosecuting -- and possibly, a murderer would have continued to walk free.
There have been cases - violent crimes in our city - that Teare cannot solve because immigrants are too fearful to share information, afraid that the deportation machine will find them or their loved ones. Victims of robberies, assault, domestic violence are too scared to dial 911. According to Houston City Council Member Joaquin Martinez, calls for police services are down across the city's immigrant-rich neighborhoods, including the East End, and especially in southwest Houston.
Community safety, many said Friday, is a nonpartisan issue. We cannot tolerate a violent and unaccountable force loose on our streets, blocking the work of our own law enforcement professionals.
Houston Rep. Lizzie Fletcher asked whether the current administration's policies have made us safer. Teare was unequivocal:
"They've had the complete opposite effect."
Lorenzo Salgado is not the first person killed by ICE since Donald Trump took office 18 months ago. At least 10 people have been fatally shot at the hands of immigration agents. And just in the first 500 days of Trump's term, 52 people died in detention. That is the agency's highest mortality rate in over a decade. Yet only a single ICE agent - one out of a force of approximately 22,000 - has been disciplined for abuse of use of force, said Rep. James Walkinshaw from Virginia.
The federal government disputed none of this. Predictably, nobody from ICE or DHS attended Friday's hearing or responded to the representatives' written questions.
Perhaps they are hoping that Rep. Garcia and Houston will stop demanding answers. But it's not just Garcia. And it's not just Houston.
Friday's hearing showed that the entire country is watching Salgado's case. Representatives from California, Virginia and New York came to Houston. They heard from Salgado's sons. They learned about the hard-working part of town where Salgado was killed. They demanded the answers we need.
They won't stop when they return to D.C. Neither should we.
-- Houston Chronicle