Voters in the Houston area are turning their grief into political power by memorializing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in July.
Hundreds of community members have been placing their “I voted” stickers at the site where he was murdered to encourage others to do their part to vote and make change during this upcoming midterm election.
Significance. The movement started with Salgado Araujo’s son, Ronaldo Salgado, who placed his sticker at the makeshift memorial on Canal Street where Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by ICE officers three months earlier, to highlight how violent immigration enforcement under the Trump administration is fueling his vote during this midterm election.
He told a reporter with MS Now that this midterm season he’s thinking of his father and the families of those who have been detained by ICE since Trump increased immigration enforcement at the beginning of his second term.
“In the Declaration of Independence, we have the right to change the government, and that’s what we’re looking to do here so that this doesn’t happen again,” said Salgado in the interview.
Since then, hundreds of others in Texas have followed suit and also placed their stickers at the memorial on Canal Street. One “I voted” sticker was placed by a voter from Seguin, Texas, 2 and a half hours away from the memorial.
On July 7, an ICE agent in Houston shot and killed Salgado Araujo during an ICE operation in which he was not the target. According to previous reporting from The Emancipator, Araujo was from Mexico and had lived and worked in the U.S. for 35 years. He was also in his car when an ICE agent stopped and shot him after officers claimed he was attempting to weaponize his car against them.
Overlooked angle. Latino support was a vital part of helping Trump take office for a second term. In the 2024 presidential election, a national exit poll conducted by Edison Research and released by the Washington Post found that Latino male voters shifted in support of Trump. This was compared to the previous presidential election, where the demographic had previously backed former President Biden, the Democratic candidate.
Power structure. So far, recent polls ahead of the midterm election have shown Latino support for President Trump at its lowest levels during his presidency due to aggressive immigration policies targeting their communities.
Roughly 55% of Latino respondents in a recent Pew Research poll say they view their vote in the upcoming midterm election as a vote against Trump–though he is not on the ballot.
Since taking office for his second term, President Trump has cracked down on both legal and illegal immigration, with many efforts targeting people from the Latino diaspora and their loved ones.
The Trump administration has been widely criticized for tactics that include using brute force – including instances where those who resist or are detained died, separating children from their parents, inhumane conditions in detention facilities, and deportation to countries where immigrants have no ties.
What experts say. “For those who haven’t voted, there’s still some time left,” Salgado said.
