1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Today July 9, 2026 I learned of the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston by an ICE officer. According to public reporting and statements from his family, Mr. Salgado Araujo was shot and killed while on his way to work. His son has said he recognized his father’s voice from video circulating on social media, drove to the hospital where he himself was born, where his brother was born, and where his own son was born, and still could not get answers. He has said the family ultimately learned of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death from social media and news reports rather than directly from the government that killed him. This is intolerable. A man was shot to death in Texas by a federal officer, and his family was left to identify his final moments online and piece together his death from social media. Federal immigration authority is not a license to kill with impunity on Texas soil, and a federal badge is not a shield against state criminal law or state investigative authority. Texas officials often speak forcefully about state sovereignty, public safety, and the rule of law. If those principles mean what they say they mean, how can Texas disclaim responsibility when a man is killed in Houston by a federal officer and there are serious unanswered questions about the use of force, the treatment of the family, and whether Texas law was violated? If a federal officer unlawfully killed a man in Houston, Texas has both the authority and the obligation to investigate what happened, preserve evidence, and determine whether state criminal law was broken. I am asking you to insist on a full state-level investigation into Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s killing and the treatment of his family afterward, including preservation of body camera footage, surveillance footage, dispatch communications, incident reports, witness statements, medical response records, and records showing when and how the family was notified. Determine whether Texas criminal law was violated, whether evidence was withheld or mishandled, and whether any state or local entity failed to provide required information or assistance to the family. Do not defer by default to the same federal system whose officer pulled the trigger. Investigate this killing, preserve the evidence, and if Texas law was broken, enforce it. “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.” Proverbs 31:8