A lawyer representing three witnesses to the fatal shooting of a Mexican man by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Texas has said they contest the US government's version of events. Attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra stated on Friday that all three men in the van with 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo reject a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claim that the father of three "rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle" and "weaponised his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement".

Instead, the witnesses said there was no ramming and that the ICE agent opened fire from the passenger side window. "After speaking with these three men that were in the vehicle with Lorenzo, I have no doubt that what these ICE agents are saying is completely false," Balderas-Ibarra said. "At no point did they ever use the van to ram into the ICE agents, and at no point were these ICE agents' lives ever in any danger."

Salgado Araujo and the three men were on their way to a job site when stopped by immigration officials. All four were living in the US without documentation, though reportedly not ICE's intended target. The lawyer recounted Salgado Araujo's last words: "Ya me mataron" ("They've already killed me").

The killing has sparked fresh condemnation of ICE tactics, with accusations of excessive violence, racial profiling, and bypassing civil rights protections. Critics note that Trump administration officials often frame victims as aggressors. In January, ICE agents shot and killed two US citizens, with then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem labeling them "domestic terrorists", but evidence contradicted initial accounts.

Family and lawmakers are calling for an independent probe into Salgado Araujo's death. His son Ronaldo Salgado said: "He did not deserve to die." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced her government will ask US prosecutors to open criminal investigations into deaths of Mexican citizens during immigration enforcement operations.

Source: www.aljazeera.com