Judge Blocks Deportation of Witness in Fatal July 7 Shooting Involving ICE Officer

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ordered the Department of Homeland Security to halt the deportation of Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, a witness to the fatal July 7 shooting of Lorenzo Araujo Salgado in Houston. The order also bars the agency from transferring him outside the Southern District of Texas while his habeas corpus petition remains pending.

DHS confirmed it will comply with the directive. The federal government must respond to the petition by July 24, 2026.

Rojas Pliego was one of three passengers detained after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot Salgado during a traffic stop. The other passengers, Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, later joined him in petitions seeking release from detention.

Their attorneys are pursuing U visas. They also dispute an FBI account that substances found in the work van could have been methamphetamine.

Salgado was driving the men to a Houston construction site when the officer shot him. He was 52 and had lived in the United States for 35 years. He had no criminal record.

The witnesses say the bags held hydration salts

An FBI affidavit filed in federal court alleged that photographs indicated methamphetamine may have been inside the van. Attorneys for the detained men and Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare disputed that interpretation.

The bags contained salt mixtures, they said. Manual laborers used them to make electrolyte drinks during extreme summer heat.

The July 7 shooting prompted the three passengers to seek relief from detention. Rojas Pliego’s petition now has a separate court protection: DHS cannot deport him or move him from the Southern District of Texas while the case proceeds.

The agency’s account of the traffic stop has also shifted. An ICE spokesperson initially described the operation as targeted enforcement and alleged that Salgado had used his vehicle in an attempt to run over an officer.

DHS later said agents were looking for a different person, specifically two Guatemalan men, when they stopped Salgado’s van. The agency also said Salgado was in the United States without authorization.

Prosecutors certified the men as victims

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office formally certified the witnesses’ U-visa applications on July 13, 2026. The certifications identify the men as victims of qualifying crimes, including “felonious assault,” “manslaughter,” and “murder.”

Those certifications support their efforts to obtain legal status while assisting law enforcement with the criminal investigation. The filings do not resolve the competing accounts of what happened during the traffic stop.

Ruby Powers, an attorney for Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, asked that her client’s petition remain sealed. She cited fears of “retaliation or intimidation” because of the case’s high profile.

Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo was the deceased man’s brother and sat in the front passenger seat. Rojas Pliego and Tirado Pantoja were seated in the rear.

The shooting drew scrutiny beyond Houston

The Houston death occurred during a week that also included fatal incidents involving federal immigration agents in Biddeford, Maine, and St. Augustine, Florida. The cases fueled debate over traffic-stop tactics and the use of lethal force by immigration officers.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum sought criminal charges in the Houston case. She described the shooting as “not only sad and regrettable, but also appears to have been targeted.”

The court order does not decide whether the officer acted lawfully or whether the bags contained illegal drugs. It keeps one witness in the district while the government answers his petition.

That response is due July 24. Until then, Rojas Pliego cannot be deported or transferred outside the Southern District of Texas under the judge’s directive.