By: Adolfo Flores
Four days after an ICE agent shot and killed Houston construction worker Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Orga- nized Power In Numbers (OPIN) staff and volunteers joined Houston DSA on Saturday to canvass East End businesses and the memorial site where Lorenzo was killed, training residents and business owners on their constitutional rights amid a nationwide surge in immigration enforcement. Federal immigration agents have now shot at least 21 people since President Trump’s second term began, killing five, including three U.S. citizens, and arrested 10,000 people nationwide in just five days at the end of June.
DHS claims Lorenzo tried to run over an agent during a stop on July 7. The three men who were in the van with him, including his own brother, dispute that account, saying through an attorney that no agents were ever in front of or behind the vehicle. DHS has since acknowledged Lorenzo was not the target of the operation and that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras. His family and Houston officials, including Mayor John Whitmire, are calling for an independent investigation.
Volunteers walked door to door to East End businesses, explaining what OPIN’s Neighborhood De- fense Training covers: that without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, federal agents cannot legally enter private areas of a workplace; the difference between a valid judicial warrant and an administrative warrant; and what an I-9 inspection does and does not authorize. Volunteers also helped business owners post “Employees Only” signage designating private areas of their workplaces as off-limits to law enforcement without proper authorization.
At the growing memorial on the street where Lorenzo was killed, volunteers spoke directly with neighbors, mourners, and drivers passing by, sharing know-your-rights information with the community closest to the shooting.
“Nobody should have to learn their rights standing at a memorial for their neighbor,” said Neidi Dominguez, Executive Director of Organized Power In Numbers (OPIN). “But that’s where we are right now, and that’s what our staff and volunteers were doing this weekend, on the same streets where Lorenzo was killed, talking to neighbors, drivers, and business owners about what to do if ICE shows up. This community deserves protection, not fear.”
Business owners who complete the training are asked to sign a pledge to post know-your-rights signage and protect their employees if ICE shows up.
