Federal judge bars deportation of witness in deadly Houston ICE shooting
HOUSTON - A federal judge has barred the deportation of one of the passengers who was in the van the day Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ordered that Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego must remain in the Southern District of Texas while his habeas petition moves through court, according to the Associated Press. Rojas Pliego was one of three passengers inside the vehicle driven by 52-year-old Araujo when an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot him near Canal Street in East Houston on July 7.
Court records say Rojas Pliego is claiming he is being held unconstitutionally in ICE custody, the AP wrote. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it will comply with the court order barring his deportation at this time.
Rojas Pliego had reportedly entered the U.S. decades ago and had not gained legal status, according to his stepdaughter, Griselda Silva.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office is helping all three passengers in applying for U visas. The Associated Press says these special visas are for witnesses assisting enforcement in active investigations. It remains unclear if federal authorities will grant the visas.
US Attorney statement on ICE shooting
What they're saying:
In a statement, Aaron Reitz, the newly sworn US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said the ICE officers were initially looking for "two Guatemalan men known to be driving a white van." While looking for the suspects' van, ICE officers were told about a similar van in the area.
There was allegedly one other attempt to stop the van before the confrontation that led to the shooting death of Araujo.
During that initial attempt, Reitz says the ICE officers' two vehicles had police lights on while they tried to "pull over the van and the men that fit the suspects' description." The van allegedly did a U-turn and got on a median to get away, and the officers chose not to go after the van at that point.
According to Reitz, ICE officers found the same van later that morning. The driver, previously identified as Araujo, allegedly tried to flee again, but the agents had surrounded the vehicle.
Two of the four ICE officers involved reportedly got out of their vehicles and told the driver to put the van in park. According to Reitz, however, the driver "shifted the van into reverse, then forward again, while an officer was partially inside the van or immediately next to it."
During a confrontation between the officers and the people in the van, Reitz says one of the officers fired one shot, which struck Araujo. Other officers provided first aid, but Araujo was pronounced dead.
The Source: Information from this article was gathered from the Associated Press.