Crowd packs Houston City Hall to demand action, express anger after ICE shooting

By Colleen DeGuzman and Alex Nguyen, The Texas Tribune
July 14, 2026

HOUSTON — A week after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed by a federal immigration agent, residents ranging from teachers to business owners filled City Hall on Tuesday to press Houston Mayor John Whitmire and the City Council to demand answers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Competing with chants from protesters gathered outside, Houston resident Olivia Smith told city leaders to demand the names of ICE agents involved in the shooting, one of two fatal shootings involving ICE in the past week.

“They acted illegally and murdered an innocent man simply for being brown. Where is the law and order in that?” she said. “It has never been about law and order. It has always been about preserving the deeply ingrained culture of white supremacy, working hand in hand with pursuit of profits.”

More than 100 signed up to address the City Council during Tuesday’s meeting, the first since the 52-year-old father was shot and killed after being stopped by ICE agents using unmarked vehicles. Some speakers shouted demands and slammed the podium while others in the standing room-only audience cried. During tense moments, the crowd yelled, “Shame! Shame!”

Dustin Rhodes, a 17-year-old Fort Bend ISD student who said he’s disappointed in his local leaders.

“We are told that ICE is here because our streets are flooded with dangerous criminals,” he said. “Yet a beloved father is dead. We have eyes, we have ears, and we are paying attention. … There is no point in pretending that ICE is here to protect us, and any attempt to continue that lie will only show that our safety is not your concern.”

Keatan King, an associate pastor at Saint Philip Presbyterian Church in West Houston, pleaded for action.

“I implore you to do everything in your power to ensure the independent investigation of the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and to establish higher standards of accountability for ICE agents: body cameras on, masks off, identification presented, guns holstered,” she said.

City Council Member Alejandra Salinas spoke after King, saying she attends her church: “We are going to be out there protesting with you, and we are going to do everything to make sure HPD does everything in its power to make sure no stone is unturned, and we get justice for Lorenzo.”

Whitmire committed to conducting a local investigation into the shooting on Friday, days after he said the city had no jurisdiction to investigate the involvement of federal agents.

Whitmire also on Tuesday directed Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz to send a letter to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Freeman Martin and ask for the Texas Rangers to conduct their own investigation. This came a day after Martin said that DPS has “received no request from any local law enforcement agency” for assistance in the shooting investigation, according to a letter he sent in response to a July 8 demand from several Democratic lawmakers for the state agency to open its own probe. 

DPS didn’t immediately respond to The Texas Tribune’s question about the Houston leaders’ request. 

Diaz also met with the FBI on Tuesday regarding the case, according to his letter and a social media post by the federal agency. Other attendees, the FBI’s post said, included federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Texas, the Texas Rangers and Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which is also running its own investigation into the shooting.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Whitmire addressed media reports that ICE will suspend most vehicle stops in the wake of deadly shootings of immigrants in Houston and Maine, calling the directive too late.

“It’s a shame that it has to come after a loss of life,” Whitmire said. “But the community is making a difference, and we will continue.”

City Council Member Edward Pollard said he wants more clarity on the city’s next steps.

“An independent investigation, that’s very vague — I think it needs to be extremely direct,” he said. “I think it needs to be coming from the city. We have one of the largest police departments in the nation with resources and abundance, and I know that they’re fully capable and qualified to do a task to bring forth clarity, answers, insight.”

Tuesday’s emotional meeting came a few months after the City Council debated how extensively police should cooperate with federal immigration agents, including ICE.

The council in April approved an ordinance limiting police interaction with ICE agents, prompting an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton, who accused the city of breaking a state law banning “sanctuary city” policies. Gov. Greg Abbott also stepped in by threatening to withdraw $110 million in public safety grants and blocking Houston from future funding if the ordinance remained in force.

About a week later, the ordinance that passed on a 12-5 vote was heavily amended with the support of 13 council members. Much of the ordinance’s initial language was stripped, including a section that said administrative warrants issued by ICE — versus warrants signed by a judge — were not enough for police officers to arrest or detain an individual.

Another hurdle facing the Houston City Council is House Bill 2127, dubbed the “Death Star” bill by opponents that prevents cities and counties from creating local ordinances that overstep state laws as a way to dilute progressive policies.

Cities including Houston sued the state to block the 2013 law. A Travis County judge ruled in August 2023 that the law was unconstitutional, but the 3rd Court of Appeals overturned that decision.

City Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz told the audience they have another tool to hold leaders accountable: voting.

“Everybody here is appalled, but it’s not much we can do if we don’t have you doing more than coming and talking and protesting,” she said. “We need you at the polls.”

Jeana Magallon, a Houston Independent School District teacher, told the City Council about breaking up a fight between two students and telling them about the “importance of talking out our issues” and “getting a trusted adult involved in their problems.”

The response stunned her: “My fifth-grade student looked me in the eyes and said, ‘That’s not real life, miss. ICE wouldn’t do that to me. Police don’t do that. They fight, they hurt us.’”

“What could I say to him?” Magallon said through tears. “We are teaching our children to expect violence towards them. So please, for my students, for our children, justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — this is on all of you.”

Kendrick Sampson, a Houston resident and actor, asked the City Council, “Why aren’t y’all protecting us? Where do y’all draw the line?”

“It should only take one, it should be not one more, not one more murder,” he said. “If you’re not going to protect us, we should not protect y’all. We shouldn’t protect y’all seats.”

Maria Cervantes, a 57-year-old Houston resident, said: “ICE hunts us worse than animals because when we call animal control, do they just shoot the animal? No, they pick them up right alive.”

“I don’t even consider ICE law enforcement,” she continued. “They’re just like hunting dogs that are killing us left and right.”

Alex Nguyen contributed to this story.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.