Established 2017
·
Houston, Texas
Cadenza Arthouse
Independent Media · Photography · Cultural Archive
Independent Media · Photography · Cultural Archive
HOUSTON — Approximately 50 to 60 volunteers gathered at Las Perras Cafe in Houston's East End on Saturday morning before dispersing to nearby parks, grocery stores and businesses to distribute immigrant rights information following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer earlier in the week.
The canvass was organized by members of the Houston Democratic Socialists of America (Houston DSA) and Organized Power in Numbers (OPN). Volunteers carried bilingual "Know Your Rights" red cards, Houston Rapid Response Network hotline information, and "Employees Only" signs intended to help businesses establish private areas that organizers said require a judicial warrant for ICE agents to enter.
The outreach followed a community vigil held earlier Saturday at the nearby SEIU Texas office for Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old homebuilder who was fatally shot by an ICE officer on July 7 while driving his work crew through Houston's Second Ward.
Speaking outside Las Perras Cafe, Jasmine Khadem Gonzalez, former co-chair of Houston DSA's Immigrant Justice Campaign, said the organization wanted to provide practical resources directly to the community.
"We have divided them up," Gonzalez said of the volunteers. "They've gone to different areas in the East End—different parks, different grocery stores—and we've equipped them with Know Your Rights red cards, with a hotline number for the Houston Rapid Response Network. The goal is to give out those resources so that if somebody sees ICE in the area, they can call or text that number, and we can mobilize."
Gonzalez said Houston DSA has conducted similar business canvasses for more than a year in anticipation of increased immigration enforcement. She noted that organizers encourage businesses to clearly designate employee-only areas because ICE generally needs a signed judicial warrant to enter non-public areas of a business.
Mauricio Escobar of Organized Power in Numbers said the effort was intended to strengthen neighborhood support networks.
"My motivation for coming out is that this is affecting not just Houston, but communities across the country," Escobar said. "Today we saw people going to the streets, we saw a vigil happening, and we saw people going out to talk to local businesses and their communities on how to protect one another. That's what community is."
Escobar encouraged residents interested in learning more about immigrant rights or community organizing to connect with local organizations that provide educational workshops and neighborhood training sessions.
The community outreach comes as pressure mounts on Houston's elected leadership to act and push back against the federal narrative. On Tuesday, July 14, the grassroots frustration seen in the East End reached the steps of City Hall, where dozens of angry residents confronted the Houston City Council, demanding concrete steps to protect immigrant communities from ICE enforcement.
While Mayor John Whitmire has stated that the city will not launch its own independent investigation—citing that Houston police were not involved in the incident—he has characterized the ICE agents' actions as "out of control". Whitmire instructed Police Chief Noe Diaz to offer HPD resources to support the federal inquiry and formally requested the Texas Rangers to conduct a concurrent investigation. As of July 15, the Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers confirmed they will investigate the shooting alongside the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, federal representatives from the Houston area are forcefully disputing ICE's initial claims regarding the targeted operation. U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia confirmed that Salgado Araujo was not the intended target of the enforcement sweep. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security has admitted that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras, intensifying calls for accountability.
In response to the growing community and political outcry, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus announced it will hold a field hearing in Houston on July 24 to gather eyewitness accounts and testimony regarding the shooting.
The identity of the ICE officer involved has still not been publicly released.
The Las Perras Cafe event concluded as volunteer teams departed throughout Houston's East End to distribute informational materials and speak with local businesses about immigrant rights resources.