Judge temporarily blocks deportation of witness to fatal Houston ICE shooting
A federal judge is temporarily barring the Trump administration from deporting one of the men who was in the vehicle when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston earlier this month.
In an order filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Judge Keith P. Ellison said Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego cannot be deported or moved outside of the Southern District of Texas while the court considers his case.
Pliego, who does not have a criminal record, according to a court filing, was in a van with Salgado Araujo on July 7 when the shooting occurred during a traffic stop.
ICE alleged that Salgado Araujo, who was allegedly undocumented, didn't follow verbal commands and "weaponized his vehicle" by trying to run over an officer during the stop, prompting the officer to fire their weapon "in self-defense."
Local elected leaders said Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who has lived and worked in the U.S. for 35 years, was not the target of the ICE operation.
No charges have been made and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Attorney Raed Gonzalez petitioned the court for the release of Pliego and another witness who was riding in the vehicle, Daniel Tirado Pantoja. Both men were detained by federal agents after the incident.
A different attorney has filed a similar petition for Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo, the brother of the man who was shot, who has also been detained.
Gonzalez says Pliego, who is undocumented, has been in the country since 1998 and is common-law married to a U.S. citizen. He has three children and four stepchildren, all are U.S. citizens, his attorney said.
Pantoja has been in the country since 1996 and has a son and stepdaughter who are both U.S. citizens, according to the filing. He also does not have a criminal record, Gonzalez said in his habeas petition.
Both men are being held at the Montgomery ICE Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.
Salgado Araujo's death has sparked peaceful protests and calls from some Texas Democrats for ICE to scale back its immigration enforcement operations.
-ABC News' Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
