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Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Announces More Than 17,000 Matters Resolved on Behalf of Texas’ Seventh Congressional District Residents

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) announced that her office has successfully resolved more than 17,000 matters for residents of Texas’ Seventh Congressional District. Her office assists residents with matters before federal agencies, including obtaining benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as addressing matters before the Small Business Administration, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Internal Revenue Service, and other federal government agencies.

“Every day, our team of constituent advocates works to serve our constituents on matters of all kinds, helping those seeking assistance with federal agencies,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. “I am grateful to the residents of Texas’ Seventh Congressional District who have put their trust in me and my team to help resolve some of their most pressing problems. I am proud of our team, and I look forward to continuing to serve our neighbors and helping our community in every way we can.”

Below are some testimonials from constituents Congresswoman Fletcher and her team have helped:

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

"I contacted the office of Lizzie Fletcher two weeks ago to address an issue I had with getting my citizenship process moving as I was out of answers from contacting them myself. Within a week, I received an email from USCIS with an interview for my citizenship. I am so glad that we have people looking out for the public and taxpayers. Thank you very much to the office of Lizzie Fletcher for resolving my inquiry."

- Thomas L.

United States Department of State

“My brother and his family applied for a tourist visa in June 2023, but their application was quickly placed in administrative processing. Despite providing additional evidence for their eligibility, the case remained stalled. For two years, we reached out every six months, but the status was in an endless limbo with no clear way to track its progress.

“I wrote to Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher’s office to explain our situation. As an American Venezuelan family, we had not been able to gather since 2017, and we were in desperate need of support to move the visa forward. I also had the opportunity to meet with her constituent advocates in Alief, and they were incredibly open and receptive, especially Sofia, who offered to investigate my case.

“After two years had passed, I was already discussing the need to re-apply when an email arrived from [Constituent Advocate] Sofia, notifying me that the visas would finally be issued by the Rio de Janeiro U.S. Consulate! Their swift intervention helped to get the process back on track. This [meant] that our three siblings and our entire family—separated for seven long years—[could] be reunited for Christmas. I was super excited to hear the great news!

“What I most appreciate is the openness and efficiency of Congresswoman Fletcher’s office. I felt instantly heard, and they acted upon my request right away. It was my first time asking for this kind of support, and I never imagined the help could be provided so quickly. Thank you to Congresswoman Fletcher and her entire team for their hard work. You have made this Christmas an unforgettable one for our family. We will be forever grateful."

- Sheila M.

Social Security Administration

“I contacted Congresswoman Fletcher’s office because I was having difficulty with my Social Security Disability. After several phone calls to SSA, I decided to contact Representative Fletcher for assistance. Her office responded to me extremely quickly and was so kind in assisting me. They took their time to understand the problem and helped me resolve the issue. Within a week of talking with Representative Fletcher’s office, the problem with my disability was resolved. What I had been dealing with for months, her office resolved in a week. I can’t thank Congresswoman Fletcher and the amazing staff that she has enough. Without them, I would very likely still be trying to resolve the issue on my own. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart!”

- Charles L.

Houston politicians react to minority business program being ruled unconstitutional by federal court

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

A federal judge has ruled Houston's minority business contracting program unconstitutional, declaring city officials will no longer be able to take race into consideration in the awarding of city contracts.

The Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise program is designed to even the playing field for these businesses.

Houston since 1984 has set goals to give certain percentages of various types of city contracts to certified small businesses and those owned by women and minorities.

The ruling now leaves the future of the program in doubt. Here’s what Houston-area officials had to say about what it means for the city.

...

"This lawsuit is part of a broader effort from far-right activists to take away the tools our community uses to level the playing field for all, court, the city's own expert witness testified that minority-owned businesses continue to lose out on city contracts. In Harris County, a 2020 study found the same pattern; more than 90% of contracting dollars went to businesses owned by white men, even though these businesses only made up 72% of the market. Programs like Houston's MWBE exist because these disparities are real, and this lawsuit is part of a broader effort from far-right activists to take away the tools our community uses to level the playing field for all."

- Lizzie Fletcher, U.S. House of Representatives

View this article in Houston Chronicle.

ICE works with TSA to enforce immigration efforts at airports across the country

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

ICE says the Transportation Security Administration is sharing data that’s essential to immigration enforcement at airports across the country, and some immigrant attorneys in Houston are now advising clients to avoid travel.

What families and attorneys are seeing at Hobby

At Houston’s Hobby Airport, immigration attorney Dalya Alabbassi says she’s handled a case in which a father was detained at the gate while his spouse and child were left behind, even though the family had valid driver’s licenses and work permits and no criminal history. She says an ICE agent was waiting at the gate because the agency knew the family’s flight plans, called the father by name and took him into custody.

The issue landed locally just weeks ago when a Bellaire High School student was detained at Hobby. His attorney says plainclothes agents took him into custody. With support from legislators and the community, the student was released 72 hours later. Alabbassi’s client, meanwhile, remains in detention.

ICE’s statement: “Essential” to safety

In a statement to KHOU 11, a DHS spokesperson said: “Information sharing between ICE and TSA is essential in identifying who is attempting to travel in our country, including violent criminals, to keep our skies and our country safe.”

The statement added that the policy is “reversing a horrendous Biden-era policy that allowed aliens in our country illegally to jet around our country” and that “Under President Trump, DHS will no longer tolerate this.”

What attorneys are telling travelers now

Alabbassi says she’s starting to advise her clients not to travel. She urges people to know their rights, not sign anything without legal advice, and contact an attorney immediately if detained.

“If you have pending asylum, if you get granted asylum, that’s the pathway to be a US citizen so you cannot give away your rights,” she said.

KHOU 11 has reached out to the airport system about ICE activity and is waiting to hear back.

Rep. Lizzie Fletcher's office issued this statement:

"In Houston, we have seen that the Trump administration is not telling the truth about what it is doing and who it is detaining—the majority of whom have no criminal convictions and are as young as two months old. We have also seen that the Trump administration's tactics and actions are not, in fact, making us safer. Detaining students, families, and law-abiding community members at the airport—or in courthouses, schools, hospitals, churches, and similar places—creates fear and trauma for individuals and entire communities that makes us all less safe and does not reflect our values as Americans."

View this article in KHOU 11.

ICYMI: Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, Members of Congress Hold Press Conference Following Oversight Visit To Dilley ICE Detention Center

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) joined Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and members of the House Democratic Women's Caucus (DWC) at a press conference with FWD.US and Families Belong Together, following their visit to the Dilley Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Center. The oversight visit follows reports of inhumane treatment of children and families at the facility.

Congresswoman Fletcher’s press conference remarks as delivered:

Thanks so much, Congresswoman Ansari, and I join you in thanks for Congressman Castro and his entire team that have welcomed all of us to San Antonio and taken us to Dilley today. I am from just down the road, I'm Lizzie Fletcher from Houston, and am really grateful for the opportunity to be here today to witness myself what is happening in the great state of Texas and in the United States of America. And every American really needs to know what we saw at Dilley today and what we are seeing happening unfold in streets across this country, and so I'm grateful to everyone who's here, who's sharing this information. I’m grateful to FWD.US for the incredible work that they're doing to make sure that people don't look away from what we are seeing happening, and both of my colleagues have used the word, that if I had to have one takeaway from today, and one word, it is trauma.

The United States government is traumatizing individuals that it has in detention. I spent a lot of time today talking with some of the adults who were there, because there are families as well as a group of women who are detained at Dilley, and I spoke with women who've been there for eight months, who were picked up off the street while they were coming home from exercising. They had no idea why they were being picked up. They had no idea where they were going, and they have very little, if any, contact with anyone outside. They don't know what's happening with their asylum case. They don't know how long they'll be there. They don't know what's going to happen to them when they get out, and they're not getting any answers. They're not getting any information, and they're not getting any help, except from the people who are working so hard to share their stories and make sure that Americans know that this cannot go on. It cannot go on in our names. And what we see is these individual cases of trauma for the children and the families. But this immigration enforcement regime, ICE, and the Trump Administration are creating trauma not only for individuals, but they are terrorizing our communities, and they are creating trauma across our communities. And that's certainly true at my home in Houston, where, as all of you know, we recently saw ICE pursue someone who was not the target of an investigation, in unmarked vehicles, with plainclothes officers, trying to stop Lorenzo Araujo and detain the three men who were with him in his van after they shot and killed him in the street.

People in Houston are outraged, but they're also traumatized. This is a national trauma, and that's why people need to know what's happening, and people need to speak up and speak out wherever they are because this is being done in our names. This is being done by the United States government, and I think for most Americans, it is unimaginable, but it is also something, as Congressman Castro said, that has been hidden. It's been hidden because we are not getting information. This Congress is not conducting the oversight that it should be. That's why I'm so grateful to Congressman Castro and to the DWC for making sure that we are doing the oversight work that the majority in Congress is refusing to do, and we need to make sure that people across the country know, as Congresswoman Ansari said, by definition, no one at Dilley has a criminal record.

Americans are being lied to about what this administration is doing, who it's detaining, what's happening when it takes them into detention. They're not being honest with the people about how, and why, and what they are doing, and it has to stop. It absolutely has to stop. The detention that we see in Dilley and the trauma that we see in our communities, it doesn't serve the interests of the American people. It doesn't meet our values and our aspirations for who we are. I know that this is not who we are, and we all need to stand up in this moment to stop it. So again, I'm grateful to be with all these incredible fighters who are here, including my friend, and classmate, and colleague, an incredible fighter here from Boston, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.

Texas holds the largest detained population of any state, averaging approximately 13,400 people per day in ICE custody as of mid-September 2025 across a rapidly expanding network of facilities. The ICE Detention Center in Dilley reopened in March 2025 after closing under the Biden Administration. Reports have revealed alarming conditions at Dilley, including poor food and water quality and serious health issues, including a measles outbreak and inadequate care for pregnant women.

Earlier this month, Congresswoman Fletcher joined 110 of her Democratic colleagues in an effort calling for the closure of the ICE Detention Center in Dilley. Since 2025, the Democratic Women’s Caucus has sent six oversight letters to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calling out their mistreatment of pregnant detainees, insufficient healthcare accessibility, and violence against women.

To watch the press conference, click here.

Congresswoman, attorney argue a Houston ISD student from Russia is here legally. He was detained by ICE anyway

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Like many rising high school seniors have done this summer, Alim Garipov packed his bags and headed to Hobby Airport on Friday, July 17, preparing to set off on a series of college tours. As an "A" student with ambitious goals, he had his sights set on several top schools, including the Ivy League universities Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

But the trip would never take off. Instead, he spent the weekend in a federal detention center.

After passing through security at Hobby Airport, two plain-clothed U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested Garipov, according to U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston. An ICE spokesperson said Garipov had initially entered the country legally in May of 2022, but was only permitted to stay for six months and did not depart at that time.

After his arrest, the Bellaire High School student from Russia was then sent to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe for overstaying his visa. As an 18-year-old, he was detained alongside adults.

Garipov was released three days later. ICE said the Houston ISD student was enrolled in the "alternatives to detention program," allowing Garipov to leave the detention center and remain in the country pending his immigration hearing. He is required to "report to ICE regularly," an agency spokesperson said.

Olsa Alikaj-Cano, an immigration attorney working with the Garipov family, told Houston Public Media ICE agents should never have arrested her client and says they did not carefully review his file to see Garipov had a pending asylum claim. ICE says pending applications do not equate to any type of legal status, and those who make them are still subject to detention or deportation.

"We worked nonstop. It took [Congresswoman] Lizzie Fletcher's office working with us, the community, all of it together," Alikaj-Cano said of the efforts behind Garipov's release.

She confirmed the family arrived here on a tourist visa from Russia, when Garipov was 14 years old during the Biden administration, and said they began working with her shortly after their arrival to file an asylum claim.

"We took plenty of time to do everything legally, properly and correctly," Alikaj-Cano said.

Alim Garipov is a rising senior at Bellaire High School. Garipov was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Friday, July 17, before being released three days later.
Rehan Alimohammad, an immigration attorney, said these kinds of detentions have spiked since President Donald Trump took office for the second time in 2025. His administration has made a push to increase deportations and detentions.

A report by the American Immigration Council which detailed the administration's rapid and ongoing expansion of immigration detentions, showed its changes in enforcement have disproportionately affected immigrants with no criminal backgrounds, such as Garipov. Arrests of immigrants with no criminal backgrounds spiked from roughly 1,000 to more than 20,000 from 2024 to 2025.

The agency began implementing "at-large" arrests, worksite raids at farms, construction sites, factories and other areas, as well as new "rearrest" practices at ICE check-ins and immigration courthouses. Most arrests at immigration courts were migrants seeking asylum, the council found.

"It’s those policies that have changed – where it doesn’t matter whether you have cases pending with [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]. It doesn’t matter whether you’re eventually going to win. What matters is the numbers," Alimohammad said.

Moving targets

According to an NPR report in April, detentions are up more than 70% when compared to the first year of the Biden administration. Immigration officers under Trump have arrested and detained convicted criminals in the country without legal status, but the officers have also detained many people without a criminal record as well as some migrants who are in the country with temporary protections from deportation.

A pending asylum claim does not protect immigrants from being detained or deported. However, Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, explained in the Trump administration's effort to deliver on higher detentions to show a crackdown on immigration to the U.S., ICE is casting a significantly wider net for who is investigated and arrested.

"ICE has the authority to investigate and detain any immigrant person who even with a legal status can be investigated," Ruiz Soto said. "That discretion and the breadth of that discretion have been applied more widely under the Trump administration. It doesn’t mean that a person who is seeking asylum should not or would not be detained in the past, but that now ICE is trying to increase removals and going after many other cases they would not otherwise normally go for."

Garipov's release from detention was celebrated by his community. However, his enrollment in the alternatives to detention program does not come without some future risk of detention or even deportation. He is required to check in with ICE regularly and at each appointment could be reconsidered for both.

The American Immigration Council report revealed after ICE arrests increased, many immigrants without legal status who had been detained, released and permitted to attend court hearings outside of detention were rearrested at their court hearings.

Each check-in with ICE carries the same potential for rearrest.

"These ICE check-in arrests can involve migrants who entered recently seeking asylum or, as with the previous Trump administration, individuals who received a reprieve of deportation under a different administration that ICE has now chosen to deport," the report's authors wrote.. "These arrests have sent hundreds, if not thousands, of people to detention who were actively complying with the obligations the U.S. government had set for them."

Fletcher, who represents the area where Garipov lives and aided in the efforts for his release, worries he would still be detained had she and others not intervened. Several teachers and other employees from his school voiced support for him after his arrest.

"I don’t have that confidence," Fletcher said. "I don’t have confidence in [the immigration] system right now. The system was not designed to operate this way, but my fear is that the people in charge in the White House want it to operate this way. It is not working for the people of this country and we need to make clear that that is unacceptable to us and that we demand change."

View this article in Houston Public Media.

ICYMI: Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, Members of Congress Question ICE's Use of Force Following Killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) joined Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat, House Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie Thompson, and Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (TX-29) for an oversight forum on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of force and abuse of power, following the tragic killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE in Houston on July 7, 2026.

The forum, entitled “Seeking Justice: Oversight of ICE’s Use of Force in the Death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo,” included testimony from Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s sons, Ronaldo Salgado Araujo and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Jr.; Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare; Houston City Council Member Joaquin Martinez (District I); LULAC President & CEO Juan Proaño; East End Communities Director Patricia Cabrera; and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Rev. Salvatore De George.

Congresswoman Fletcher’s oversight forum remarks as delivered:

Congresswoman Fletcher:

Well thank you, Chairman Espaillat, and thanks to you and Ranking Member Thompson and Representative Garcia for convening this important oversight forum. And I want to thank all of my colleagues who've come from across the country to see and hear from our community. And I want to thank our witnesses from our community for so beautifully explaining and showing this community to the rest of the country. Because people across our community and across the country, as Father De George and Ms. Cabrera explained so beautifully, have been living in fear. And their worst fears were realized again when federal agents killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. So I want to thank all of you for testifying and for your leadership in our community, especially at this devastating time.

Ronaldo and Lorenzo, my thoughts have been and will continue to be with you and your mother and your entire family, not just today, but in all the days ahead. You make us proud, and you make us all proud for your advocacy and for your commitment to justice for all. And I hope today's hearing will demonstrate to you and to everyone here our commitment of not only our Houston Congressional Democratic Delegation, but the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the entire House Democratic Caucus.

It is a failure of this Congress—and many before—that we have not been able to pass laws to address our broken immigration system. The people here have been trying and will continue to do so, but it is a new and utter failure of this Republican-controlled Congress that has not only failed to address—it has refused to address the abuses that this White House is directing in terms of immigration enforcement operations. And that it has done nothing—nothing—when innocent people in this country have been killed at the hands of federal immigration agents this year and during this term.

It is a betrayal of families and communities across the country that we represent. It is a betrayal of the Constitution that we have all sworn an oath to protect and defend, and it is a betrayal of our values as Americans. And yet, what we hear from those who are directing these policies is that these actions are being taken to make us safe. And so, District Attorney Teare, I want to direct my questions—start my questions—with you. Can you tell us from your experience of 20 years in law enforcement whether the policies that we have seen implemented at ICE—and in terms of immigration enforcement throughout DHS—in the last 18 months have made our communities safer?

District Attorney Teare:

Objectively, no. They've had the complete opposite effect.

Congresswoman Fletcher:

And can you tell us why that is? Can you give us some examples of what is making us less safe because of the policies that this administration is implementing?

District Attorney Teare:

We have people who are here unauthorized, who are victims of domestic violence, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, who are too scared to even call the police, let alone participate in prosecutions of people who are here with documentation or who are citizens. These policies have effectively created a group of our community that are targets, and that's what we're seeing.

And we can't hold the people that prey on them accountable. And that group of people knows it.

Congresswoman Fletcher:

Thank you. In addition, Mr. Green asked about dash cams, and I also want to ask about the increased presence of unmarked vehicles and plainclothes officers for immigration enforcement activities. That's something I know many of us up here have objected to repeatedly, but can you talk about what that does in our communities as well?

District Attorney Teare:

Yeah. It continues the feeling of fear—the floating fear that Father talked about. But it's just not good law enforcement policy. Undercover work is crucial to good law enforcement policy. But undercover officers don't then affect the traffic stops for reasons that we have seen time and again around the fear of the person trying to be stopped. So it is not best practices.

Congresswoman Fletcher:

Thank you. And with the time I have left, Council Member Martinez, I just want to direct this question to you. Can you share with us how you see in the community this affects interactions with law enforcement agencies that come under your jurisdiction, like the Houston Police Department and others, and in the community because of the actions of these federal officers?

Council Member Martinez:

Yes, Congresswoman. So it's important to continue to highlight that calls for services are down. My team, we've done some research. We've gotten data from HPD within our zip codes. And they have gone down. And then even heavier in the southwest part of Houston, where we have an even more diverse immigrant population, called them services have gone down even more. So what we're finding as well is that, when residents—and I've shared my personal number with several community folks—when something is happening, an operation is happening, and folks can’t identify who is heading that operation, we're having to call and figure out what agency this is

in order to try and tamper down those fears.

Congresswoman Fletcher:

Thank you, Council Member, I've gone over my time, I appreciate it. Thank you all for your testimony and for your work. And thank you again for convening this hearing. And I yield back.

To watch the forum, click here.

Five key takeaways from Houston’s hearing on the ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Democratic members of Houston’s Congressional delegation called for a major overhaul of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics and cautioned that immigrants are being “hunted down” during an oversight forum Friday.

The panel was spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, in the aftermath of the July 7 fatal shooting by ICE agents of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant and small business owner from Houston’s East End.

Garcia was joined by Houston Democrats Lizzie Fletcher, Al Green and Christian Menefee; U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio; U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-NY, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, among others.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's two adult sons, Ronaldo Salgado and Lorenzo Salgado Jr., implored lawmakers to keep the pressure on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to amend its immigration-enforcement policies during President Donald Trump's unprecedented national crackdown.

Though ICE officials were not present, they posted a thread of recent arrests during the hearing:

“Despite coordinated attacks by local officials & the media attempting to undermine ICE's mission, we continue to work tirelessly to defend public safety & national security by removing gang members and other violent criminal illegal aliens from the local community.”

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare fielded most questions from lawmakers, who pressed him for details on his office’s independent investigation into the shooting.

Federal officials boxing out local investigators

Garcia and Espaillat told the panel that officials from the FBI, DHS and ICE were asked to attend the forum and declined. The lawmakers said those refusals added to the shroud of secrecy federal investigators are operating under as they decline to cooperate with local officials on several levels.

“We're here to support the family and to listen to the community,” Espaillat said. “Our federal authorities have refused to come forward, and so we are here to hold them accountable.”

Garcia said House Democrats have sent six letters to ICE and DHS officials seeking details about the investigation, and all have gone unanswered.

“One letter is asking for parole for a victim, and one letter is requesting all of the evidentiary materials to be given to the local partners so that we know what is going on,” she said. “And I have been told by the Director of Homeland Security that they don't intend to give us any answers until their investigation is complete. So that's why hearings like these matter.”

Garcia later pressed Teare on what new information his office had gleaned, but the district attorney gave limited answers, citing his intent to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

“I can't provide information about potential charges or potential targets,” he said. “And I'm not going to speculate on the timeline for our investigation.”

Teare criticized the continued detention of three witnesses to the July 7 shooting — Salgado's brother and two workers who rode in the van.

"They're the only witnesses we have," Teare said.

Already, Teare's investigators have interviewed one of the work van's occupants.

He cautioned that further interviews are not conducive to privacy amid a guarded investigation. The witnesses may not speak freely while in immigration detention as the rooms are not intended for privileged conversations with lawyers — unlike at the Harris County Jail, which has rooms for defendants to speak with their attorneys without being recorded by authorities.

"We don't know who's listening when they give witness statements," Teare testified.

Teare told lawmakers that he has repeatedly reached out to the DHS to no avail.

"We haven't gotten a response to anything," Teare said.

In response to a question from Garcia, Teare said DHS had not revealed to his office the identity of the ICE agent responsible for fatally shooting Salgado. He later declined to say whether he personally knew the agent's identity, when pressed by a reporter after the forum.

He also said he doesn't know whether the agent is still working or on administrative leave.

"They haven't told us anything," Teare said, adding "we've been able to identify some pieces of evidence without the official notification."

Teare commented later on how ICE’s tactics are eroding trust in the community and his concerns about an unsealed search warrant the FBI issued to inspect Salgado’s van.

ICE tactics eroding trust in law enforcement

Aside from the Salgado case, Teare said ICE’s street tactics are hindering his office’s ability to investigate major crimes in Harris County.

“Those of us in law enforcement don't take issue with deporting violent felons. However, here in Harris County, there are crimes and cases my office has not been able to prosecute because witnesses are scared of immigration consequences,” he said.

Teare added that a witness in an unrelated capital murder case was on a plane to Central America before his office was able to intervene and keep the person in Texas. Teare declined to tell lawmakers which case that was, but in the past, the district attorney has publicly said the father of an 11-year-old Pasadena girl who was raped and killed in 2023 was deported to El Salvador following his misdemeanor arrest. Teare's office intervened to bring the father back to Texas as a material witness for the accused assailant's death penalty trial.

Teare said the uncertainty has had a significant impact on the office’s ability to investigate cases of domestic violence.

“They refuse to come forward or testify for fear of being deported,” he said. “What's happening isn't helping public safety. It's certainly not justice. And it's un-American.”

The unsealed FBI search warrant

FBI agents took more than a week to execute a search warrant for the white construction van Salgado was driving on July 7. The FBI said in an unsealed court filing that agents had reason to believe bags of a white, powdery substance found on the van’s dashboard and cargo area were narcotics, possibly methamphetamine.

Teare said the speed at which the FBI gave details about the search warrant was unusual.

“This is the first time in my career that I've ever seen a search warrant in a criminal case on the federal side unsealed, at least prior to a grand jury presentation of the facts,” he said.

Teare called the request for a search warrant “unusual.”

“There was no one alive that would have had standing to object to a search, and the stated goals of the search warrant had nothing to do with the shooting investigation at all," he said.

Salgado’s family said their father did not use drugs and that he “abhorred” them. They said any powdery substance found in the van was likely a mix of salt and lemon that’s added to water to combat dehydration.

“I feel very confident that in short order we're going to get the laboratory results back and I think it'll be confirmed what the family has said,” Teare told the panel.

A few hours after the hearing ended, Teare confirmed the substance was not a narcotic or any other illicit substance.

Garcia's office quickly spread the news.

“As his family has said all along, this was an electrolyte powder to stay hydrated working outside in the hot Texas summer. The attempt to cast a shadow over Lorenzo Salgado’s name has failed," Garcia said in a post on X.

'Targeting' Latinos

Green and Castro said Salgado’s killing should alarm all people of color, as the DHS and ICE target minorities under Trump’s immigration-enforcement operation.

“(Salgado) was a part of a quota that had to be met. And as a part of the quota that had to be met, he finds himself in a position such that he is being chased through a Latino neighborhood,” Green said. “The president of the United States of America is engaged in ethnic cleansing. Latinos, wherever you are in the country now, you are considered not just undocumented, but unlawful.”

Castro later piled on.

“They said that (Salgado) was not their target. That's because everyone is their target,” he said. “Everyone who is brown, who is speaking Spanish in public. Donald Trump's campaign of mass deportation is an assault on the Hispanic community in the United States of America.”

Castro then took aim at the governor’s office for demanding local authorities work with ICE.

“Let us also remember that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is a full partner in that brutality,” he said. “We see it on the streets and behind the prison walls of places like Dilly and Pearsall and Karnes in those detention centers. Gov. Abbott has forced state and local law enforcement to assist ICE despite its reckless brutality. No identification, no warrants, full masks and guns drawn.”

Garcia ended the forum with a promise that Friday’s hearing would not be the last as the Salgado family and Democrats continue to seek answers.

“All of us are gathered here today to ensure the public, to ensure the public that we will find justice for Mr. Salgado,” she said.

View this article in Houston Chronicle.

Fletcher Speaks On ICE's Detention of Bellaire High School Student

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

View this interview on KHOU 11.

Alim Garipov Released From Detention Following Community Advocacy

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Today, Alim Garipov, a Bellaire High School student, was released from ICE detention following a community-wide advocacy effort. Immigration lawyer Olsa Alikaj-Cano of Cano Immigration PLLC, Congresswoman Fletcher (TX-07), and Alim’s family released the following joint statement:

“We are relieved and grateful that Alim has finally been released from detention and reunited with his family.

“This outcome came after a tireless, expeditious effort over the weekend, working in partnership to secure Alim’s release.

“So many people across our city—his friends, teachers, coaches, and so many others—rallied behind Alim in support, and those who know him know it’s easy to understand why. He is an extraordinary young man with a bright future ahead of him. He loves his family and this country, and he has done everything the right way, legally, throughout this process.

“Too many immigrant families in our community and across the country are facing similar uncertainty and separation, and we are actively working to help many others facing the same fear.

“We will continue working to help members of our community in these challenging times, and we will continue to advocate for an end to the unfair and unjust policies that led to this heartbreaking situation in the first place. We hope that everyone who expressed concern for Alim will continue to do so for him and for others—it matters.”

Alim Garipov, a Bellaire high school student detained by ICE at Hobby, is released from custody

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Alim Garipov, a Bellaire High School student detained by ICE agents Friday night, has been released from custody, according to a lawmaker, the boy’s family and his attorney.

Garipov was released and reunited with his family Monday, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher said in a joint statement with Garipov’s family and Olsa Alikaj-Cano, an immigration attorney.

The statement gave credit to a “tireless, expeditious effort over the weekend,” of officials, locals and advocates pressing for the 18-year-old’s release after he was detained by agents at Hobby Airport.

Garipov, who will be a senior this fall, moved to the United States from Balsati, a settlement in south central Russia in May 2022. Garipov and his family came to the U.S. seeking asylum. His asylum case is pending.

“So many people across our city — his friends, teachers, coaches and so many others — rallied behind Alim in support, and those who know him know it’s easy to understand why,” the statement read. “He is an extraordinary young man with a bright future ahead of him. He loves his family and this country and he has done everything the right way, legally, throughout this process.”

Ann Linsley, a teacher at Bellaire High School, said over the weekend that Garipov is one of the school’s top students, who taught himself English and computer programming. He was a captain of the school’s swim team and president of the Russian Student Association.

Linsley said dozens of students, classmates and members of the Bellaire community wrote letters of support for Garipov.

"He's just a gem," Linsley said. "He's an ideal kid."

Garipov had recently learned to code and begun volunteering at Rice University's Biodesign Lab. Although he just started in June, he had already made an impression on his labmates and mentors, said Matthew Bennet, the lab's principal investigator. Bennett said several of his new colleagues also wrote letters of support and that he'd hoped Garipov would eventually attend Rice after graduation.

“They immediately emailed me back saying, ‘What can we do? We need to help,’” Bennett said. “They really think the most of Alim."

An ICE spokesperson said in a statement late Saturday that Garipov was admitted into the U.S. on May 7, 2022, as a non-immigrant with permission to remain in the country no later than Nov. 6, 2022, but he failed to depart.

Linley said Garipov’s parents and younger sister were with him when he was detained, but only he was taken into custody. Linsley said the family was traveling to visit colleges on the East Coast when he was detained at the airport.

View this article in Houston Chronicle.