LULAC APPLAUDS FEDERAL COURT ORDER FREEING KEY WITNESS IN THE KILLING OF LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO
Nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization says the release of José Trinidad Rojas Pliego vindicates due process and brings the Salgado Araujo family one step closer to the truth.
HOUSTON — The League of United Latin American Citizens applauds the federal court order directing the release of José Trinidad Rojas Pliego, a key witness to the July 7 fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston's East End.
"A federal court has now affirmed what LULAC has said since the morning of July 7: no person on American soil may be stripped of liberty without due process of law," said Roman Palomares, LULAC national president and chairman of the board. "The Constitution does not first ask where a man was born before it protects him. This order is a judgment on a practice that has swept up witnesses, workers and fathers without individualized justification, and it puts every agency operating in our neighborhoods on notice that the courts are watching."
U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison granted Rojas Pliego's petition for a writ of habeas corpus Monday evening, ordering ICE to free him within 48 hours after finding that his continued detention violated his Fifth Amendment right to due process. The order requires that he be released in a public place, that his attorneys receive at least three hours' notice beforehand, and that the Department of Homeland Security obtain a pre-detention hearing before attempting to detain him again. Days earlier, the same judge blocked his deportation.
"A father is going home to his children, and a family that has spent three weeks in fear can finally breathe," Juan Proaño, LULAC chief executive officer. "But we do not forget why he was taken from them. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo left for work on a Tuesday morning and never came home. His brother, Victor, and Daniel Tirado Pantoja are still behind bars in Conroe for the crime of witnessing what happened. This community will not rest until all of them are home and until Houston is told the truth about what took place on Canal Street."
Rojas Pliego, a Mexican citizen, has lived in the United States since 1998. He is the father and stepfather of several U.S. citizen children and has no criminal record. He was riding to a construction job the morning of July 7 when ICE officers stopped the van driven by Salgado Araujo on Canal Street and an officer opened fire, killing the 52-year-old homebuilder and father of three.
Because the officers involved wore no body cameras and their vehicles carried no dashboard cameras, Rojas Pliego and the two men who remain detained at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe are the only known witnesses to the shooting. Their accounts contradict the federal government's assertion that Salgado Araujo used his van as a weapon against an officer.
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About LULAC
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization. Founded in 1929, LULAC is committed to advancing the rights and opportunities of Latino Americans through advocacy, community building, and education. With a growing network of councils nationwide, LULAC remains steadfast in its mission to protect and empower millions of Latinos, contributing daily to America's prosperity. For more information about LULAC and its initiatives, please visit www.lulac.org/.