Tests on a white, crystal-like substance found in the van of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Houston on July 7, have confirmed it was not methamphetamine. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz stated that the tests were negative for the drug, according to The Texas Tribune.
Attorneys for Salgado Araujo's family have stated the substance was a homemade electrolyte mixture used by the 52-year-old construction business owner and his crew to stay hydrated during the summer heat. Reitz did not disclose what the substance actually was.
Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. without legal status for 35 years, was driving his work crew to a construction site when ICE officers in unmarked vehicles pursued his van and shot him through the window. He had no prior arrests.
His death is among at least 10 that have occurred during immigration enforcement operations since the commencement of President Donald Trump's mass deportation initiative. The incident has led to protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation.
Following the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security initially claimed Salgado Araujo had "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer" and that the officer fired in self-defense. An FBI search warrant on the van alleged that officers observed small bags containing a substance that appeared to be methamphetamine.
However, two passengers in Salgado Araujo's van provided court statements asserting that the ICE officers were never in danger of being hit by the vehicle, stating they were always positioned to the side. Previously, Reitz had disclosed that the ICE officers were attempting to apprehend two Guatemalan men, who were potentially subject to deportation, and were traveling in a van similar to Salgado Araujo's.
David Donatti, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas representing the Salgado family, described the FBI's search warrant as an effort by the government to construct a "false narrative." He stated, "Lorenzo Salgado Araujo should still be alive today, and nothing about the government’s so-called ‘search’ could have changed that fact. That search proved what the Salgado family had said all along: Lorenzo was a hardworking man who made homes for Houston families, and his wife packed him homemade electrolyte mixes to keep him and his crew hydrated under the Texas sun."
Donatti added that the government's actions in securing and unsealing the search warrant indicated a greater interest in creating a false narrative than in discovering the truth. "The Salgados deserve real answers about what happened to their father," he said.