Democratic members of Congress are signaling they plan to investigate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and enact changes if they regain control of Congress this fall. They held a forum in Houston on Friday to gather testimony on the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents earlier this month in the city’s East End.
U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Houston, offered some of the strongest condemnation of ICE.
"This is an agency that needs to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt into an agency that enforces immigration law, while recognizing the dignity of the people that it encounters," Menefee said. "But we all know that that will not happen under this administration, and it won't happen under this Congress that's currently controlled by Republicans."
That, he argued, would likely change after November's midterm elections. He said one of the first orders of business if Democrats regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives will be an investigation with regards to the deaths of Salgado Araujo and others at the hands of ICE agents since Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
Salgado Araujo, 52, was a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years without legal status, according to his family. He was not the intended target of the ICE operation that resulted in his shooting death.
"In January, new leadership will happen in the halls of Congress. And I know that every single person sitting up on this dais right now will be in full-throated support of an investigation," Menefee said.
Salgado Araujo's two sons were among the first to testify, lending additional weight to such calls.
"There must be a thorough, truly independent investigation, not one where the agency under investigation also controls the evidence and is able to unilaterally clear its own personnel of any wrongdoing," said Ronaldo Salgado. "Congress should insist that federal, state, and local investigations all move forward with full federal cooperation and should demand answers on a public timeline."
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Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Jr., his other son, pleaded with the Congress members to use every tool at their disposal to determine what happened to their father and to make sure no one else suffers a similar loss.
Juan Proaño, chief executive officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), testified that there have been at least 30 separate incidents over the past year in which federal agents fired at people, killing at least eight and wounding at least 14. He further testified that, in the first 500 days of the second Trump administration, there have been at least 52 documented deaths in ICE custody.
Congress members on the panel called for reforms ranging from laws requiring body cameras and dashcams for ICE agents up to an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.
"[U.S. Department of Homeland Security] blames the lack of cameras on government shutdowns, but even months after DHS pledged to rapidly deploy the technology, they are still not in use," said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, and the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. "And to no one's surprise, the Trump administration has no interest in reforms that will save lives."
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia noted that ICE and DHS had declined to participate in the hearing in any manner.
The agencies claimed after the shooting that Salgado Araujo “weaponized” his vehicle and tried to run over an ICE agent, who fired a gun in self-defense. That characterization has been disputed by passengers in Salgado Araujo’s van at the time.
"Congress has the constitutional duty to conduct oversight," Garcia said. "Oversight is not about politics. It's about accountability. It's about making sure that agencies entrusted with enormous authority are using that authority wisely and responsibly."
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