A memorial grows at the site where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by ICE agents, last week, on Monday, July 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

A witness to a fatal shooting in Houston 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 riding in a work van July 7 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, calling it a  lie. 


A federal judge this week ordered Rojas Pliego's release and previously instructed the government not to deport him.

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's 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.

 We were on our way to work when they took Lorenzo Salgado's life,  he said in Spanish.  Instead of giving him first aid right away, they handcuffed him and pushed him to the ground. That's not right. I want justice for Lorenzo Salgado, my boss. 

The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the shooting that Salgado Araujo had  weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,  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 si

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