Judge orders ICE to release witness in Houston shooting after drug claim dispute
On July 28, 2026, U. S. District Judge Keith Ellison ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a detained witness in the July 13, 2026 shooting of Mexican construction worker Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, citing Fifth Amendment due-process concerns. The shooting occurred when an ICE agent fatally shot Salgado in Houston.
The FBI’s warrant had alleged that bags of methamphetamine were found in the victim’s white cargo van, but prosecutors later reported that laboratory analysis showed the white powder to be a non-controlled electrolyte mix. Family attorneys maintained the substance was a salt-based electrolyte. Earlier, Judge Ellison had blocked the witness’s deportation while his habeas petition proceeded.