1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

I am writing to express my profound outrage over the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Houston. Mr. Salgado Araujo—a construction worker with no criminal record who had lived in the U.S. for 35 years—was shot and killed by plainclothes, unmarked agents driving unmarked vehicles while transporting his crew to a job site. The Harris County Medical Examiner has since ruled his death a homicide. This tragedy highlights a catastrophic failure of congressional oversight. Congress authorizes billions in unchecked funding for ICE, yet allows it to operate with stunning disregard for standard law enforcement protocols, constitutional guardrails, and basic transparency. Most egregiously, DHS admitted the agents involved were not wearing body cameras. However, focusing solely on the lack of body cameras undersells the sheer recklessness of this operation. While the lack of video creates an unacceptable barrier to accountability, it was the specific tactical choices made by ICE that manufactured this lethal hazard. Their actions represent a severe violation of standard operational safety and civil liberties: - Violations of Safe Enforcement Rules: Deploying plainclothes personnel in unmarked vehicles to execute an enforcement stop completely abandons standard "endgame" arrest safety protocols, creating chaotic and dangerous escalation. - Reasonable Fear of Criminal Exploitation: Criminal rings frequently use unmarked vehicles and fake credentials to target contractors for their tools. When unidentified individuals block a vehicle, a worker has no way of knowing who they are. The natural human instinct is to escape a suspected violent crime, not submit to unidentifiable strangers. - Flagrant Fourth Amendment Violations: Weaponizing traffic stops via covert federal squads violates protections against unreasonable seizures. Reports indicate Mr. Salgado Araujo and his passengers were not even the primary targets, exposing a pattern of overly broad, reckless enforcement. We cannot trust an executive agency to investigate itself behind closed doors, nor can we rely solely on internal administration reviews. As my representative, I urge you to use your legislative authority immediately to: 1. Demand a Comprehensive Congressional Investigation: Publicly call for a wide-ranging congressional investigation with full subpoena power to probe the alarming surge in ICE enforcement and detention fatalities since January 2025, bypassing executive branch conflicts of interest. 2. Enforce Local Law Enforcement Access: Pass legislation mandating that ICE and DHS immediately turn over all unedited evidence, dashcam footage, and witness statements to any local District Attorney or local grand jury investigating a civilian death caused by federal agents on their jurisdiction's soil. 3. Mandate Tactical Guardrails: Condition future ICE funding on a statutory ban against plainclothes or unmarked traffic stops, alongside mandatory, universal body camera deployment. The status quo is a flagrant abdication of constitutional checks and balances. I expect a direct response detailing the concrete steps you will take to hold ICE accountable and ensure this tragedy receives an independent, transparent review.