A witness to a fatal shooting in Houston by a federal immigration agent was released from a detention center Wednesday after spending weeks in custody following the deadly encounter.
Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was one of three men riding in a work van July 7 being driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot by an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Salgado Araujo was shot after the van was stopped by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles. Rojas Pliego has disputed the Trump administration’s account of the shooting in court documents, calling it a “lie.”
A federal judge this week ordered Rojas Pliego’s release and previously instructed the government not to deport him.
Rojas Pliego has lived in the U.S. for several decades and does not have legal status, according to his stepdaughter Griselda Silva. She said that the family could not afford to pay the legal fees to try to adjust his status.
In a video posted by one of Rojas Pliego’s attorneys Wednesday, he is seen wearing an ankle monitor in a parking lot and hugging a woman.
The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the shooting that Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” and that the officer had fired in self-defense. But Rojas Pliego and another passenger wrote in statements submitted in court that the officers were on the sides of the van, never in front of or behind it.
Araujo Salgado, a 52-year-old father of three, had been living in the U.S. for 35 years and was close to obtaining legal status, according to his family. He had no criminal record.
His death is one of at least 10 during immigration enforcement operations since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, sparking widespread protests in Houston and calls for an independent investigation.
Around the time Rojas Pliego walked out of the detention center Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked for a stay of his release pending an appeal, arguing that U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison’s ruling on Monday conflicted with decisions in other immigration cases.
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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
