An ICE agent just shot and killed a man in Houston.

On Tuesday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stopped Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man who had lived in the U.S. for decades. Araujo was on his way to work, but soon he was dead, shot by an ICE agent. This is the first known instance of a fatal shooting involving immigration agents since the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests this winter—but deaths in ICE custody have been continuing in the intervening months. Here’s what you need to know.

Who is Araujo, and what happened to him?

According to his son, Araujo, 52, was a married father of three who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 35 years and worked in construction. Araujo was picking up day laborers in a historically Latino neighborhood of Houston, Texas, when agents tried to stop his vehicle as part of a “targeted enforcement operation.” According to the Trump administration, Araujo rammed a vehicle and tried to run over an agent, who shot him in self-defense. Araujo was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Should we believe ICE’s account?

There’s a lot we still don’t know about what happened. But we do know that the Trump administration hasn’t always been honest about similar incidents. Top officials initially called Pretti, a nurse, a domestic terrorist. Donald Trump himself said Good, a poet, ran over an ICE agent with her car—only for video evidence to contradict him. In Araujo’s case, surveillance video shows a white van being followed by two SUVs, making a U-turn, and pulling over, but doesn’t seem to have captured the fatal shot. FBI officials say the agency is investigating a potential assault on a federal officer but not the actual shooting. Araujo’s family, activists, and local lawmakers have demanded an independent investigation. One possible witness, a man whose stepdaughter says he was in Araujo’s vehicle, seems to be in ICE custody.

Speaking of ICE custody, what’s happening there?

According to Human Rights Watch, as of last month, 52 people have died in immigration detention during Trump’s second term. More than 30 died in 2025, making that year the deadliest in two decades. Many detention facilities reportedly suffer from overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and spotty access to healthcare. Several detainees suffered fatal medical events. In March, an Afghan man who once fought alongside U.S. troops died of an allergic reaction. Others appear to have taken their own lives. And a medical examiner labeled a Cuban man’s death in January a homicide—it followed a struggle with facility staff.

The reaction to Good’s and Pretti’s deaths seemed to make the administration pull back on immigration enforcement. Is it ramping back up now?

Apparently so. The New York Times reports that ICE detained more than 10,000 people in five days late last month, roughly double its previous daily arrest numbers. The surge, which reportedly came at the White House’s behest, may be happening in Houston, too. Locals have spotted a heavier ICE presence there—including in the neighborhood where Araujo was killed.