All three witnesses in the July 7 ICE shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo — Jose Trinidad Rojas Pliego, Victor Hugo Salgado Araujo and Daniel Tirada Pantoja — were passengers in Araujo’s van and were detained by ICE shortly afterward. Since then, only Pliego has been released. Attorneys for Salgado Araujo and Pantoja have filed petitions seeking their release, and advocates say all three men have now been certified for U visas through the district attorney’s office. César Espinosa with FIEL said attorneys are still fighting to free the remaining witnesses so they can testify, but that newly assigned judges with limited experience are slowing decisions and keeping people detained for unrealistic lengths of time.
