A witness to 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 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,
A federal judge this week ordered Rojas Pliego’s release and previously instructed the government .
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.
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鈥檚 ruling on Monday conflicted with decisions in other immigration cases.
Wearing an ankle monitor, Rojas Pliego visited the curbside memorial commemorating his former boss on Monday and recalled when the group was followed by ICE agents.
鈥淲e were on our way to work when they took Lorenzo Salgado鈥檚 life,” he said in Spanish. “Instead of giving him first aid right away, they handcuffed him and pushed him to the ground. That鈥檚 not right. I want justice for Lorenzo Salgado, my boss.鈥�
The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the shooting that Salgado Araujo had 鈥渨eaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,鈥� 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.
Salgado Araujo, 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 during immigration enforcement operations since the start of President Donald Trump鈥檚 mass deportation campaign, in Houston and calls for an
At the memorial site, Rojas Pliego played a song over his phone on speaker and told reporters that he missed Salgado Araujo. 鈥淚 worked alongside him through thick and thin. My whole life,鈥� he said, describing him as a 鈥済ood boss.鈥�
鈥淩est in peace,” he said. “I couldn鈥檛 be present at your funeral, but you have me here now.”
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Associated Press reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed from McAllen, Texas.
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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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