Judge orders immigration officials to release key witness in Texas ICE shooting
Judge Keith P. Ellison said the witness’s detention violates due process and ordered his release while the shooting investigation remains active.
- On Monday, Federal Judge Keith Ellison ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego from custody within 48 hours. Pliego is a key witness to the July 7 fatal shooting of driver Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
- The Department of Homeland Security claimed the July 7 shooting was self-defense, alleging Salgado Araujo "weaponized his vehicle." However, Rojas Pliego and other witnesses disputed this account, stating officers were positioned at the sides of the van.
- Ellison ruled that applying mandatory detention to Pliego without considering his individual circumstances violates his Fifth Amendment due process rights. The order notes Pliego has lived continuously in the United States for nearly 30 years.
- Lawmakers and local officials have criticized ICE over transparency and the lack of body-worn cameras during the incident. District Attorney Sean Teare testified that federal agencies hampered his office's ability to obtain evidence for the active investigation.
- ICE must return Pliego's personal property by July 30 and comply with the release order. Any future detention attempt requires a hearing where the government must prove he poses a flight risk or danger to the community.
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Oregon congresswoman says feds provide few answers on immigrant death investigation
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, joined colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Houston last week to push for more federal oversight after federal immigration agents kill at least eight people since the start of the second Trump administration. (Courtesy of the Office of U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon) Congressional leaders, including Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, are demanding answers regarding recent high-profile deaths…
He knows why a judge ordered the release of the key witness of the ICE shooting in Texas and what impact the ruling has on his immigration process.
Judge orders release of witness in ICE shooting of algado Araujo
A federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security on Monday to release Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, whom the government took into custody in connection with the recent fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by federal agents in Texas. Immigration and Customs Enforcement killed Salgado Araujo, a homebuilder in Houston, on July 7 as he drove his work crew to a construction site. Rojas Pliego, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the Unite…
The court found that his detention violated due process while the investigation of the case continues.
Judge orders immigration officials to free key witness in deadly Texas ICE shooting
A federal judge ordered U.S. immigration authorities to release a key witness in the fatal shooting of a Mexican homebuilder by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston.
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