Mexico intends to file criminal complaints in the United States following the deaths of more than a dozen of its citizens while in U.S. custody, Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco announced. The government will pursue "forceful legal action" to safeguard the human rights of Mexican nationals in the U.S., Velasco stated.
According to the foreign minister, 14 Mexicans died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and an additional three died during ICE "arrest operations." The announcement comes days after a Houston resident and Mexican national, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, was killed by an ICE agent.
Salgado, 52, had lived and worked in the Houston area for three decades after immigrating to the U.S. as an undocumented migrant, his son Ronaldo Salgado told journalists. Ronaldo Salgado stated his father "did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of 'Mexican man shot and killed by ICE'."
The family reported that Lorenzo Salgado was on his way to work when the shooting occurred. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, detailing the incident. The DHS stated that ICE law enforcement agents attempted a vehicle stop as part of a targeted operation to apprehend an undocumented immigrant.
The department alleged that Salgado attempted to evade arrest and subsequently "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer, resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defence." The statement further claimed Salgado rammed an ICE vehicle and ignored multiple verbal commands.
The incident in Houston prompted a protest, with over a thousand people gathering on Wednesday. Images from the protest show a man holding his hands over his eyes, standing before microphones, alongside another man holding pictures of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.