For decades, Border Patrol agents in the United States have intentionally and unnecessarily stepped in front of moving cars to justify using deadly force against a vehicle’s passengers. Internal reviews of Border Patrol tactics also revealed a “lack of diligence” in investigating use-of-force incidents, particularly those that result in death. Additionally, Border Patrol has used deadly force in many other incidents where it wasn’t justified, and yet, accountability for these incidents is rarely, if ever, seen.
Since President Donald Trump took office in 2025, violent escalations have become the norm during immigration enforcement actions. The administration infused Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with agents from agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and several others, including Border Patrol.
With the infusion of Border Patrol agents operating deep in the country’s interior, far beyond any border and hidden behind masks, the agency normalized its brand of violence among the ranks of local, state, and federal agencies, none more prevalent than ICE, witnessed by millions of people. This has become evident as the agency weaponized stepping in front of vehicles to shoot people multiple times in just the first 18 months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The recent killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, echoes all of the previous incidents resulting in injury and death. Immediately after the shooting, ICE began flooding the media circuit with rationalizations around the agents’ SUV being rammed by Araujo’s van, and later his alleged attempt to run over an agent. None of which appears to be true.
As with previous cases, the narrative began to fall apart almost immediately. The first piece of evidence, as noted by local reporters, was that Araujo’s van had no damage consistent with a ramming incident. Later, local investigative journalist Jeremy Rogalski published a clip from a surveillance video that showed ICE agents in an SUV ramming Araujo, seconds before he pulled over, suggesting he was either injured or making himself available to ICE agents, as you would a police officer upon being pulled over.
I reached out to ICE to ask about the evidence undermining their narrative, but the response focused on which outlet would publish the information, not on providing details to bolster what the agency alleges happened or to deny any allegations. Instead, it felt like a selection process to determine if one freelance independent journalist was worthy of providing information to, rather than a friendly outlet with which the White House has a close relationship.
In seeking comment on the footage that contradicts the agents’ claims, or when asked whether the agency will release bodycam footage that corroborates the agents’ assertions, I did not receive a response; however, DHS released a statement saying there was no bodycam or dashcam footage. DHS also indicated that any evidence, including surveillance footage or bystander video collected by federal agents at the scene, is now in the FBI’s hands.
The question about when Araujo was shot remains the most glaring. Bystander video shows he was shot in the torso on his right side, indicating that he was shot from the passenger side of the van. This shows not just that the agent who shot him wasn’t in danger, but also that Araujo was most likely shot when ICE agents sideswiped the van from the passenger side seconds before pulling over or after Araujo stopped. Either indicates an extrajudicial murder.
Another key question surrounds the whereabouts of the three men who were traveling with Araujo. Within a day or so, The New Republic reported that ICE was trying to coerce the three witnesses to self-deport, highlighting how likely it is that neither of them had an existing deportation order. Later, New Republic staff writer Greg Sargent posted ICE’s response to him on social media, noting that they did not deny the allegations of coercion.
A lawyer representing the three men currently in ICE custody, Hugo Balderras-Ibarra, held a press conference. He noted that all three men provided a vastly different account than the one ICE offered, saying, “I can tell you with conviction that my clients’ version of events is extremely different from what ICE agents are saying or what the agency is saying.” Their version of events corroborates the publicly available footage obtained by local journalists, not ICE”s narrative.
“All three of my clients reiterated that at no point was there ever an agent standing in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger. That is simply false, and I believe my clients are telling the truth,” Balderras-Ibarra said.
The men are being held in the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas. Meanwhile, ICE’s story does not appear to be based on facts at all, and thanks to the public and diligent journalists in Houston piecing the story together, civilians are starting to get the correct narrative, not some fantastical militaristic tale. It’s a story of violence, lawlessness, and what has clearly become the normalization of extrajudicial murder at the federal level.
NOTE: As of this writing, ICE killed another civilian in Maine. In that incident, early video evidence shows an ICE agent firing at a vehicle from the side, highlighting that the agent wasn’t under the direct threat of being targeted by a vehicle. What the evidence in both cases shows, as it had previously, is that ICE agents are using the same pretext to kill with impunity.
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