Substance in work van of Mexican man killed by ICE tests negative for drugs

A substance found in the work van of a Mexican immigrant killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has tested negative for illicit drugs, the top prosecutor in Houston said Friday, refuting claims by federal officials that the vehicle likely contained meth.

The revelation is a major development in the case of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a construction worker who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Houston on July 7 after living in the U.S. for 35 years. ICE has maintained Salgado Araujo “weaponized” his vehicle during an attempted traffic stop, prompting an agent to shoot him in self-defense. The other men in the van, who remain in ICE custody, have disputed that allegation. 

Roughly a week or so after the killing, which was followed by another fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Maine less than a week later, the FBI submitted an affidavit in federal court saying it suspected that the van Salgado Araujo was driving contained methamphetamine. The FBI affidavit included photos taken from outside of the vehicle that showed small bags with a white crystal-like substance that an agent said was consistent with meth. 

But on Friday, the office of Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the test results had come back negative.

“We can confirm the substance found in Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s van tested negative for narcotics / illicit drugs,” the office added in a statement. “We have notified Salgado Araujo’s family because we felt they had the right to know.”

Teare’s office said it would not be providing more details on the test results, citing an ongoing investigation.

Friday’s findings are consistent with statements by representatives for the Salgado Araujo family, who had maintained the substance in question was likely granulated salt used by construction workers to create a homemade electrolyte mix to brave the summer heat.  

The FBI said it did not have any comment on the test results.

In a statement Friday, David Donatti, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas, which is representing Salgado Araujo’s family, said the federal government was “more interested in creating a false narrative than in seeking the truth.”

“Lorenzo Salgado Araujo should still be alive today, and nothing about the government’s so-called ‘search’ could have changed that fact,” Donatti added. “That search has now proven what the Salgado family has said all along: Lorenzo was a hardworking man who made homes for Houston families.”

The FBI and ICE’s internal oversight office are both reviewing the July 7 shooting, though federal officials launched the investigation as one looking into the potential assault on an agent. Teare’s office is conducting its own probe, and he told WTX US News he’s “more than prepared” to prosecute ICE agents if he finds criminal wrongdoing on their part.

ICE has said Salgado Araujo was living in the U.S. illegally, though it has not disputed that he lacked a criminal record.

In an interview with WTX US News, Salgado Araujo’s eldest sons, both of them American citizens, described their father as a hardworking man who loved music and his family.

“He was drawn by the promise that in America you can, if you put in the work, you’ll get paid what you deserve, and the idea that in America, you can build yourself up from nothing to become someone, and to give your family a better future,” Lorenzo Salgado Jr. said.