Judge temporarily blocks officials from deporting witness of deadly ICE shooting

A federal judge in Texas this week temporarily barred immigration authorities from deporting one of the witnesses in the fatal shooting of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month in Houston.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison issued an order Monday blocking ICE from deporting Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego without first getting the judge’s permission. Ellison also barred ICE from transferring Rojas Pliego away from the Southern District of Texas without prior approval.

Rojas Pliego, who is facing deportation proceedings, is one of three construction workers who were inside the work van Salgado Araujo was driving when he was shot and killed by an ICE officer on July 7. One of the other witnesses in ICE custody is Salgado Araujo’s brother.

The deadly shooting, which was followed by the fatal shooting of a Colombian immigrant at the hands of an ICE agent in Maine less than a week later, reignited the national debate over President Trump’s aggressive deportation blitz.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said one of its agents shot Salgado Araujo in self-defense, claiming the Mexican immigrant weaponized his work van during a traffic stop. Salgado Araujo’s family has disputed that version of events, demanding an independent investigation into the killing. While it has said that Salgado Araujo was in the U.S. illegally, DHS has admitted that ICE agents were looking for a different person when they stopped his vehicle.

Last week, the FBI submitted an affidavit in federal court disclosing photos that an agent said indicated that methamphetamine may have been inside the work van. That allegation has been disputed by Houston’s top prosecutor, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. And Ruby Powers, an attorney representing Salgado Araujo’s brother, said the material in question was likely salt used in a homemade electrolyte mix to brave the summer heat.

Teare told CBS News last week he submitted paperwork to help the three witnesses detained by ICE get legal protections known as U visas, which shield victims of crimes from deportation if they help a law enforcement investigation. 

Teare’s office is investigating the July 7 shooting, which is also being reviewed separately by federal officials. He said he is “more than prepared” to file charges against immigration agents “if the case and the evidence directs us that criminal wrongdoing occurred.”