SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Approximately 100 people gathered near the steps of City Hall in San Antonio to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) involved fatal shooting of an illegal alien in Houston earlier in the week. Authorities allege the suspect attempted to flee from agents conducting a targeted enforcement operation and was shot as he allegedly tried to run over an officer with his vehicle.
Breitbart Texas observed Friday’s protest at San Antonio City Hall where members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and other leftist groups carried posters that read, “JUSTICE FOR LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO.” Organizers shouted chants on a bullhorn and gave speeches calling for an end to ICE presence in San Antonio and in other parts of the country. Protesters denounced the incident and called for the abolition of ICE altogether.
Organizer Corrie Rosen Speaks to Crowd of Protesters (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
A member of the San Antonio chapter of the PSL rallied the group, calling for the abolishment of ICE. Corrie Rosen, who has previously identified herself as a public-school teacher, spoke about Lorenzo Salgado-Araujo in front of a makeshift memorial display, saying, “He was in the country for 35 years, but let’s be clear, I don’t care if he was here for 35 years or 35 days, the injustice does not stand.”
Government officials told Breitbart Texas late last week that Salgado applied for a work permit earlier this year. On the application, he allegedly said he entered the U.S. in 2005. His family stated at a press conference that he had been here much longer.
Rosen criticized the future opening of an ICE detention center on the East Side of the city, calling the facility a concentration camp. Rosen rallied the protesters, telling the crowd, “The Eastside detention center is across the street from a school that is being closed; we need money for jobs and education, not for racist deportations.”
Rosen did not tell the crowd that the school, Essence Preparatory Charter School, was ordered closed by the Texas Education Agency for failing performance in three of the four years it was open, and that its closure was not related to the future opening of an ICE detention center nearby.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado-Araujo occurred on Tuesday in Houston during a targeted enforcement operation where the Mexican national allegedly attempted to flee and then reportedly attempted to run over an officer with his vehicle. Shortly after the shooting, ICE officials identified Salgado-Araujo as a Mexican national illegally present in the United States.
In a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas after the incident, agency officials said they were attempting to stop a vehicle as part of a “targeted immigration enforcement operation to arrest an illegal alien.” As a foreign national, illegally, Salgado would not have been eligible for a Texas driver’s license. ICE officials told Breitbart that they received a tip from law enforcement partners. Officials stated:
After receiving a credible tip from our law enforcement partners, our officers conducted surveillance on a target’s address. Weeks prior to the incident, they noted two white vans at the property. On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop.
“From information we are receiving,” the statement continued, “he [Salgado-Araujo] rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense.”
According to ICE, in the aftermath of the shooting, emergency services were summoned, and Salgado-Araujo was transported to a Houston-area hospital where he passed away from his injuries. The Houston FBI office is leading the investigation into the shooting and the potential assault on a federal officer.
Since the shooting, several protests have taken place in Houston’s East End and Magnolia Park neighborhoods. Several hundred people marched in the Magnolia Park neighborhood, making demands to halt immigration enforcement operations in the Houston area.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.