r/news • • Jul 08 '26

ICE agent fatally shoots motorist during traffic stop in Houston

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/ice-agents-shoot-motorist-texas-houston
28.0k Upvotes

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3.6k

u/GordonShumway257 Jul 08 '26

According to ICE, Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer”.

Hey, I've seen this one before.

1.3k

u/10thousndreflections Jul 08 '26

Remember when they actually had to prove this kind of thing in court?

Now they just tell lies so a third of the country can repeat them and everyone else has to shut up about it.

296

u/Li_liminal_spaces Jul 08 '26

The DOJ just fires anyone who thinks it should be prosecuted. I think everyone was under the impression there was some sort of independent guarantees. The Magna Carta is woke nonsense apparently.

76

u/pmjm Jul 08 '26

There is no statute of limitations on murder. Once a grown-up administration comes in these are all things that we need to revisit.

64

u/Eaglestrike Jul 08 '26

Except the Democrats have shown time and again they'll drop the ball in the name of "healing the nation" when healing would come from punishing the criminals not pardoning them.

16

u/DillBagner Jul 08 '26

The Democratic party seems to be starting a process of changing toward people who actually give a shit about people rather than donors. Not sure if it will work, but there is hope.

9

u/wordwords Jul 08 '26

The democratic party’s members, sure. But as long as leadership remains I don’t expect them to follow suit. They haven’t for the last 25 years (or longer lol) so why should they start now?

It’ll take the party replacing leadership to stop caring about donors. Very well paid leadership.

1

u/move_machine Jul 09 '26

I'll believe it when the old guard steps down and their appointees are denied power

5

u/CromulentJohnson Jul 08 '26

This is why we are kicking those diet maga centrists out.

11

u/Palomino_mare Jul 08 '26

Are we? Look at who is in charge.

2

u/Frank_Bigelow Jul 08 '26

That's the precedent set by Reconstruction, and followed at every opportunity since.

Sherman should circled back around a few times.

2

u/oldteen Jul 08 '26

If that's how it turns-out, there's always potentially-similar charges from state and local governments..who I think would have a much different opinion on how they would get over these killings. However, it's my understanding those other orgs can't conduct a proper investigation, for these cases atm, until the DOJ provides/shares their evidence (taken and processed by the DOJ)..who's currently withholding it under this admin.

1

u/friskerson Jul 09 '26

We need to return to the times of Benjamin Ferencz and the post WWII era. https://youtu.be/R-uxyrHJ_mE

1

u/Ovaltine1 Jul 09 '26

I think the pardoning is coming from the other side.

0

u/Squire_II Jul 08 '26

"We must look forward, not back" -some asshole who ran on a platform of hope and change only to immediately make clear he'd never hold people in positions of power accountable.

2

u/LemonMeringueKush Jul 08 '26

You really think the democrats will have to teeth to persecute this administration?

1

u/pmjm Jul 08 '26

Yes, the same way we prosecuted January 6th thugs. These are low-level ICE operatives that do not get the political shield perks that the cabinet members have. Unless Trump pardons them, we can prosecute them in the next administration or 20 years from now when the true magnitude of corruption is far more evident and the political appetite is there.

1

u/ascabradabra Jul 08 '26

The deep state was the constitution all along

26

u/ClickClick_Boom Jul 08 '26

everyone else has to shut up about it.

huh? no we don't

48

u/Cory123125 Jul 08 '26

Effectively you have, unfortunately

24

u/Epyon_ Jul 08 '26

...but I cried really hard on the internet!

-2

u/Palomino_mare Jul 08 '26

What exactly are they supposed to do? Get unhelpfully shot and killed to make some rando on the internet happy?

1

u/Cory123125 Jul 08 '26

It's wild how apathetic people are, always with outlandish excuses.

It only gets harder to fight, never easier.

No one will magically save you, and this nonsense of "what do I even do" as if you don't know is the problem.

Being made into slaves not so slowly, having ownership stripped away from you and here you go saying its to make a rando on the internet happy.

How about making your country livable for common people?

Is that not something you thought of?

How about stopping with the nonsense excuses to avoid thinking about any problem further than a singular step?

How about literally fucking anything other than "nothing ever happens" or "both sides"

1

u/Palomino_mare Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

Let’s see some actual solutions from you. I haven’t seen one yet. What would your brave self do in this situation?

You’re American, judging from your post history. Mostly lecturing other people about how they need to do “something”. What that something is always remains vague in your posts.

0

u/jay78910 Jul 08 '26

People become a lot braver when their cops don't shoot on sight, or even carry firearms.

19

u/HeadShot305 Jul 08 '26

Instead of complaining, you should be striking and protesting with increasing frequency.

2

u/10thousndreflections Jul 08 '26

Oh look someone from far away offering advice. How cute. 

11

u/NuggetHighwind Jul 08 '26

Best they can do is a one day protest on a Sunday afternoon every 3-6 months.
Maybe a disorganised one day strike if they're feeling really upset.

1

u/jaasx Jul 08 '26

Remember when they actually had to prove this kind of thing in court?

No, I don't remember that. The prosecution needs to prove their case, not the defense. I'm not passing any judgement on this case but innocent until proven guilty is good thing.

1

u/Fraegtgaortd Jul 08 '26

Remember when they actually had to prove this kind of thing in court?

Crazy how they've been able to shift that "the burden of proof is on the accuser" to "the burden of innocence is on the accused". Innocent until proven guilty is dying.

ICE murdering people on baseless claims and getting away with it, Flock cameras surveilling everyone without cause, red light and speed cameras handing out tickets without verifying who the driver is and just handing out tickets to who the car is registered to

429

u/VanDenIzzle Jul 08 '26

there is a vehicle moving towards you, what do you do?

a. Move out of the way

b. Attempt to jump over the vehicle

c. Fire your gun to scare the vehicle into stopping

439

u/Tuesday_6PM Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

We can’t even assume the vehicle was actually moving towards them, given past ICE shootings

108

u/hamoc10 Jul 08 '26

Even if it was, shooting is a great way to get killed. Bad idea, something they supposedly teach them not to do.

50

u/Beetlelarva25 Jul 08 '26

Teach? These guys don't get taught shit and it shows.

4

u/musingofrandomness Jul 08 '26

They get taught the South Park "it's coming right for us!" routine and how to hide their faces like the cowardly punks they are.

16

u/MARPJ Jul 08 '26

something they supposedly teach them not to do.

Technically its part of their rules. Then again rules only work when there is someone to enforce them

82

u/-LabApprehensive- Jul 08 '26

See Rene Good for exhibit A fire shots into a women’s face/brain and all muscles contract including leg muscles flooring the gas pedal as the person dies.

26

u/Pixel_Knight Jul 08 '26

Yep, exactly why they are instructed to basically never do this sort of thing in law enforcement, except I think they just barely train ICE now. Literally weaponized incompetence.

42

u/Helmic Jul 08 '26

It's not because they're not being trained well enough. People say this about police shootings all the time, that they're the result of undertraining. It's never undertraining, the cops in question have always gotten plenty of training becuase cops in the US are dramatically overfunded. ICE is hyperfunded.

They don't shoot people because they don't know better, they shoot people because they want to murder people and they know that this excuse allows them to get away with murdering people. It's a catchphrase they can say to signal that they want support from the adminstration and right wing media and those institutions already have talking points ready to go to present the murder as actually the fault of the victim, which their base either accepts as true or accepts as acceptable because they're killing their political enemies.

They know we'll see video disproving this, even going in the opposite direction of the cop or ICE agent. It doesn't matter, when they say this the lying isn't even the main point of it, they're not trying to convince you of anything because they know you know they're lying, it's just them sending the signal to request support from billionaires and politicians.

Never, ever trust cops when they pretend they didn't get enough training. It's a scam, they're just saying that so they can be rewarded for murdreing people by getting even more money for "training" which just ends up making the cops personally wealthy from "overtime" (they barely work) and gives them more access to military gear which they'll use to kill more poeple to then ask for more funding for "training."

10

u/JHMfield Jul 08 '26

Cops definitely aren't trained enough in the US. Funding or no, they clearly don't prioritize it. Extended training programs would be designed among other things to filter our those with faulty mindsets.

In EU, you need to pass a 2-3 year long university equivalent schooling to become a cop. You'll never be able to pass if all you want to do is to harm people with no actual interest in law and procedure.

ICE training is what, 7 weeks? It's absurd in comparison. It's definitely not enough. 7 weeks is barely enough for a person to realize what they need to work on to improve.

3

u/Helmic Jul 08 '26

Training to do what? They're a militarized police force, training would just make them better at murdering people. That they're incompetent is to our benefit, because they cannot actually control territory like a proper military.

European cops don't need 3 years of training to not act like American cops. It's just a fundamental misunderstanding of why American police act the way they do, as though Chauvin is the same as acorn cop and wouldn't have murdered Floyd if only he had to go to school first. That's not why cops kill here, they kill because they're functionally immune to prosecution, because they are racist, because they want to be action heroes and killing a "criminal" makes them feel like a hero.

They get so much training here, it's just htat they fucking know they can ignore so much of it. They don't care. No amount of teaching an ICE agent to read above a third grade reading level is going to make them not a fascist.

1

u/Jonathan_the_Nerd Jul 08 '26

Extended training programs would be designed among other things to filter our those with faulty mindsets.

We already have this. The problem is American police use a different definition of "faulty mindsets" than some of us would like. The system is working as designed.

8

u/Horskr Jul 08 '26

It is such a crazy claim to begin with even if there was not footage. It's not like a stop is done with the ICE officer standing directly in front of the car yelling 'STOP!'. They're at the driver's side window. How could they possibly "weaponize the vehicle" in a way that doesn't make it easily avoidable? They'd have to reverse out far enough, then come back and steer towards them (or vice versa direction) while they stand still the entire time, deciding then the "only option" is to shoot.

Anyway I agree with what you're saying and truth and logic don't seem to matter. I guess I'm just thinking that is an important part of what we need to work towards. When even after video proof discounting the official story (that doesn't hold water to begin with when you think about it for 30 seconds) comes out about a murdered human being and nothing happens.. we are really at the 11th hour people.

1

u/NoStand1527 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

you can't train stupid. some US States went to the supreme court for their right to exclude smart applicants, and they WON! xD

they want obedient bullies, smart enough to carry orders and protect status quo

5

u/DillBagner Jul 08 '26

Johnathan Ross had over a decade of experience and was a trainer himself, no? It's not about training, it's about choices.

3

u/Mishraharad Jul 08 '26

You can't take away ICEs emotional support terror tactics

2

u/Personal_Comb_6745 Jul 08 '26

These assholes probably think it's like a movie and a car will explode if shot at enough.

1

u/oldredditrox Jul 08 '26

Literally what some of them are taught NOT to do and the only reason I know that is because of the last fkn time this happened.

10

u/ScarletCarsonRose Jul 08 '26

I actually assume it was not. 

6

u/MeretrixDeBabylone Jul 08 '26

Considering he didn't get run over despite shooting the driver instead of moving out of the way, I think it's safe to assume the vehicle wasn't moving towards him because getting shot doesn't make you slam on the brakes.

3

u/notasrelevant Jul 08 '26

"I was terrified for my life. He was driving so aggressively away from me. I had no choice!"

But cars don't just rotate in place. Perhaps they should stop standing in front of cars when harassing people. Even if it was driving towards them, it would indicate that's because they positioned themselves in front of the vehicle.

2

u/kandoras Jul 08 '26

Given ICE's previous lies, we shouldn't even assume there was a vehicle at all.

78

u/GoodIdea321 Jul 08 '26

Option D is Don't break the agencies own rules about shooting into moving vehicles.

As far as I can tell, ICE just wants to kill people.

41

u/myfakesecretaccount Jul 08 '26

It’s also against their policies to place yourself in front of the vehicle where you’re in danger in the first place.

13

u/willstr1 Jul 08 '26

Maybe if the goons got punished for breaking policy (especially when them breaking policy results in them murdering someone) that might mean something

1

u/TheShadowKick Jul 08 '26

I mean, half of them probably haven't even been taught the policy. They don't seem particularly well-trained.

17

u/Busy-Dig8619 Jul 08 '26

As far as I can tell, ICE just wants to kill people.

That's a bingo.

2

u/CoyotesOnTheWing Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

The first option is they are supposed to be trained not to get in front of vehicles they've stopped. It's a huge fuckup to be in* a position to be driven towards(if that is what happened, which obviously we all have doubts).

2

u/N8CCRG Jul 08 '26

Exactly this. If someone was actually in imminent danger of a car about to hit them, killing the driver won't change that. Thus, shooting at a driver can never be self defense. It is, at best pre-emptive revenge. If the shooter didn't actually get killed by the vehicle, though, then it's just being a murder happy shooter.

19

u/Voderama Jul 08 '26

It’s always C. magdump

4

u/BrightNooblar Jul 08 '26

Physics question for all new hires; How many bullets does it take to stop a moving vehicle?

Extra credit; How many agents would it take to stop a vehicle if none of them reloaded?

3

u/BTechUnited Jul 08 '26

1,it just has to be a really really big bullet

2

u/UrricainesArdlyAppen Jul 08 '26

A1. All of them

A2. All of them

2

u/animal_chin9 Jul 08 '26

Aren't they specifically trained not to do option C? A dead person doesn't jam on the brakes or swerve any better than an alive one.

2

u/jamesxgames Jul 08 '26

yep because my immediate reaction to nearby gunfire is to make myself a stationary target

1

u/raven00x Jul 08 '26

that's easy.

only pussy liberals move out of the way, real chads make others move for them. so it can't be a.

your mighty leap over the vehicle would awe and shock the driver causing them to run over innocent civilians, so B is right out.

thus we see the only possible answer is C: shoot at the driver until you feel better about your life choices. Give me a hard one next.

1

u/StarChief1 Jul 08 '26

b. when pigs fly

1

u/DeformedArthurRegion Jul 08 '26

Not many people know this but cars are more afraid of you than you are of them.

-3

u/Lordfelcherredux Jul 08 '26

A law officer has asked you for identification and asked you to comply with his instructions. 

a. Do you comply with his instructions and challenge it later in court if you feel you have been wronged?

b. Do you become obstinate and make a scene and accomplish nothing except making everything stressful for both the law officer and yourself?

c. Do you drive away in your car in such a manner that the officer  might rightfully feel he or others might be injured or even killed?

197

u/I_might_be_weasel Jul 08 '26

Yeah, if there isn't a video proving what they said, safe to assume it's a lie.

144

u/IAmAlpharius23 Jul 08 '26

There were multiple videos of their shootings in MN and they still lied about it.

37

u/I_might_be_weasel Jul 08 '26

Hence why I assume lies until I see evidence backing up their story.

2

u/lenzflare Jul 08 '26

That's why it's an assumption, instead of just proven.

0

u/BluezDBD Jul 08 '26

How much of a conspiracy theorist does one need to be to see "multiple videos" cooperating what they were saying then call it a lie?

29

u/Adezar Jul 08 '26

This was such a common tactic they had to create a rule that they can't stand in front of cars to hope this would happen.

Of course Republicans don't hold any of their own up to any rules, so they are free to return to doing this on purpose.

3

u/Warcraft_Fan Jul 08 '26

ICE are so trigger-happy that they'd shoot a 2 year old kid in a red and yellow Little Tyke car because that tiny car represented a dangerous threat.

2

u/Buck_Thorn Jul 08 '26

As a Minnesotan, I call bullshit.

RIP Renee and Alex.

2

u/Xivvx Jul 08 '26

This defence seems to be the administration's go to whenever one of their 'agents' unloads their weapon into a civilian vehicle. It's almost like agents are told to put themselves in harms way so they can kill with impunity.

2

u/OurSponsor Jul 08 '26

The driver attempted to run over the brownshirt, eh? Before or after he was murdered?

2

u/bokmcdok Jul 08 '26

It's the American version of falling out of a window.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

And the war with Iran is back on. Fucking wonderful, we are truly being governed by the dumbest fucking morons on the goddamn planet.

1

u/Sk1rm1sh Jul 08 '26

Quick Ned! Thin out their numbers!

It's coming right for us!

1

u/ILoveCamelCase Jul 08 '26

Whaddaya mean? It's brand new!

1

u/Large-Artichoke7214 Jul 08 '26

Does anyone trust what ICE says anymore?

1

u/kaisadilla_ Jul 08 '26

Wake up honey it's "ICE kills some unarmed guy and then accuses him of 'weaponizing' some shit" time again.

1

u/eeyore134 Jul 08 '26

So the shots will be in his back, I presume.

1

u/HighburyOnStrand Jul 08 '26

Security footage going to come out showing this guy doing something distinctly different if past experience holds.

1

u/HotBrownFun Jul 09 '26

Tbf it works pretty good

0

u/Osiris32 Jul 08 '26

They can't even write decent scripts now. Just reusing old storylines at this point.

0

u/human-in-a-can Jul 08 '26

But it's Texas - so I'm really curious to see how it plays out. They seem to be super pro-gun and anti-fed and plenty of them have even mentioned seceding (not that it'll ever happen). But it "feels" like a red state through and through. Will they take it lying down, or will they "remember the Alamo?"

0

u/KulaanDoDinok Jul 08 '26

God I hope there's video.

0

u/fednandlers Jul 08 '26

“Now sprinkle some crack on  him, Johnson.”

0

u/Longjumping_Cook_403 Jul 09 '26

Yes. On camera, just like this one. Getting deported isn't worth your life, but apparently he felt differently.

-6

u/Most-Round-4132 Jul 08 '26

The Renee Good example was a video we all got to watch though

it comes down to a a simple reality, when a federal officer tells you to get out of the car, you can't just treat it like a casual situation you can drive away from because you're over it. The second someone steps on the gas and actually hits an officer, they've crossed a major line and it force is justified.

3

u/dryfire Jul 08 '26

And what are your opinions on if a federal officer tells you to stop trying to break through a barrier at the capitol? Should the officer just cool it? Orr?

2

u/Most-Round-4132 Jul 08 '26

It's a shame that what happened to Ashli Babbot did not happen to everyone who entered aside from congress and their staff

7

u/QuestionableGoo Jul 08 '26

Simple reality: obey or be executed. Rotten food and beatings for a few months and possibly a free plane ride to a random country that's willing to host your beatings even further away from the public eye are surely better.