Witness disputed administration’s account of shooting, calling it a ‘lie’
Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego was released from a detention center Wednesday after spending weeks in custody following the fatal July 7 encounter in Houston. He was one of three men riding in a work van when federal agents driving unmarked vehicles stopped it and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed the driver, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
A federal judge ordered Rojas Pliego’s release this week and had previously instructed the government not to deport him, according to the Associated Press.
In court documents, Rojas Pliego disputed the Trump administration’s account of the shooting, calling it a “lie.”
Rojas Pliego has lived in the United States for several decades and does not have legal immigration status, his stepdaughter Griselda Silva said. The family could not afford to pay the legal fees to try to adjust his status, Silva said.