Rep. Menefee Joins Family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Community Leaders to Demand Full Investigation and Accountability Following Fatal ICE Shooting
HOUSTON, TX — Today, Congressman Christian D. Menefee (TX-18) joined the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Houston community leaders to honor Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer during an enforcement operation on Tuesday, while calling for a full, transparent investigation into the incident and those responsible to be held accountable.
During the press conference, Congressman Menefee stressed that any use of deadly force by law enforcement must be met with complete transparency, an independent investigation, and full public oversight. He also reaffirmed that Houston is a city built by immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, who are an essential part of the community.
Congressman Menefee further condemned what he described as a pattern of increasingly aggressive and militarized immigration enforcement, arguing that ICE has lost the trust of the communities it is meant to serve. He pledged to continue fighting for answers, justice, and transparency for Salgado Araujo and his family.
Full Transcript:
"I'll be incredibly brief because my colleague, Congresswoman Garcia, said everything that needs to be said.
I want to be clear: somebody being killed by law enforcement is a big deal. No matter the circumstances, no one should take lightly the power to take someone's life in the middle of a street.
Meanwhile, this administration is in court fighting to make sure people like Ronaldo and Lorenzo Jr. (Lorenzo Salgado Araujo sons) can't be citizens in this country.
We need a full and transparent investigation into what happened here, and all of the evidence needs to be released to the public.
There's an old saying that in Houston you can ask a room full of people—doesn't matter if they're blue collar or white collar—to raise their hand if they know an immigrant, and everybody will raise their hand. Ask them to keep their hand up if they know that person beyond a passing conversation, and they'll keep it up. Ask them to keep it up if that person is undocumented, and people will continue to keep their hands up.
We are a city of undocumented immigrants. They are our neighbors. They are our family. They are business owners, and they deserve to be treated with humanity and dignity.
We've seen what happened to Alex Pretti. We've seen what happened to Renee Good. We've seen the habits of ICE. They have lost the trust of the American people.
And as a member of the House Oversight Committee, let me tell you: when Democrats take back the House, ICE, you better buckle up, because we will be investigating you day after day after day until this lawlessness and this militarism stop.
We've seen this across the country, and now we're seeing it in Houston. I want to see all the evidence. But regardless of what the evidence shows, we should not have these folks in our city taking people's lives.
Lorenzo should be here with us today. This is awful. This is an abomination. And we need ICE out of our city."
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