A federal judge on Monday ordered U.S. immigration authorities to release a key witness in the fatal shooting of a Mexican homebuilder by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston. U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison mandated that Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego be released from immigration custody within 48 hours, with his attorneys given at least three hours notice of the time and location. The release must occur in a public place.
The court order represents a significant legal victory for the witness and comes amid growing scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the July 7 shooting that killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old homebuilder who had lived in the United States for 35 years. Rojas Pliego was one of three passengers in the work van Salgado Araujo was driving when an ICE officer shot him during a traffic stop in Houston’s East End near the intersection of Canal Street and Wayside Drive.
Judge Ellison, in his Monday order, agreed with Rojas Pliego’s contention that his detention violates his Fifth Amendment due process rights. The judge noted that Rojas Pliego’s case represents “one of hundreds of similar petitions” being filed amid the Trump administration’s application of immigration detention protocol. According to the order, the government is not permitted to detain noncitizens without “individualized justification” solely because they did not enter the country lawfully.
The judge also stipulated that if immigration authorities seek to detain Rojas Pliego again, they must first provide him notice and hold a pre-detention hearing. Additionally, Ellison’s previous order blocking Rojas Pliego’s deportation remains in effect, preventing ICE from removing him or transferring him to a detention facility outside the Southern District of Texas without the court’s permission.
Rojas Pliego, a Mexican citizen, has lived in the United States since 1998 and has no criminal record. He maintains a common law marriage with a U.S. citizen partner and has U.S. citizen children and stepchildren. He has a pending application for a U-Visa, a special immigration status for victims of crimes who assist law enforcement. If granted, the visa would provide him with a four-year work permit and protection from deportation.
The significance of Rojas Pliego’s release lies in his status as one of only a few known witnesses to the shooting. The ICE agents involved in the incident were not equipped with body cameras or dashboard cameras, making the passengers in Salgado Araujo’s van the primary eyewitnesses to the encounter. Two other men detained in connection with the incident—Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, the victim’s brother—have filed similar petitions seeking release from immigration detention.
The accounts provided by the detained passengers sharply contradict the federal government’s description of the shooting. The Department of Homeland Security initially stated that Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” prompting the officer to fire in self-defense. However, Rojas Pliego and other passengers have disputed this characterization in written statements filed with the court.
In his handwritten statement, Daniel Tirado Pantoja stated that two unmarked vehicles struck their van from behind and the side before it stopped. “At no moment were the agents in front of the vehicle,” Pantoja wrote in Spanish. “Lorenzo had come to a full stop while the agents fired.” Rojas Pliego similarly asserted that federal officials’ account of events is false and that no ICE agent was ever in danger.
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston, who met with two of the detained witnesses, said their account represented “a totally different story” from what federal authorities have described. She noted that it was not surprising Salgado Araujo drove off when ICE attempted to stop his vehicle, given that their cars were unmarked and had no lights.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is supporting the three passengers’ applications for U-Visas, recognizing them as potential witnesses in an active investigation. The office said it is “pursuing investigative avenues available to us and will conduct a review of any information we collect within our reach.”
The fatal shooting has prompted multiple investigations into whether the officer’s use of force was justified. The FBI is conducting a federal investigation, while Houston Mayor John Whitmire requested that the Texas Rangers conduct an independent investigation as well. The Departments of Homeland Security also announced that ICE is pausing most traffic stops and expanding body camera use among agents in response to the incident and a similar fatal shooting in Maine less than a week earlier.
A substance found in Salgado Araujo’s van initially raised questions after federal officials alleged it might be methamphetamine. However, testing confirmed the substance was not a narcotic or any other illicit substance. According to the victims’ attorneys, the substance was a salt mixture the men used as electrolytes to maintain hydration while performing manual labor during Texas’s grueling heat.
The shooting represents at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign, and it has generated international attention. The Mexican government announced it would seek criminal charges related to the deaths linked to ICE operations.