As calls mount for accountability over the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who represents Texas’s 9th Congressional District. He demands an independent investigation into the shooting to stop “an attempt to cover up” the killing by the Trump administration.
Democratic lawmakers led by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a public hearing in Houston on Friday to gather testimony from community members about Salgado Araujo’s killing. Green, one of the longest-serving Black members in Congress, highlights the importance of solidarity between different communities facing oppression.
“Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans, and we have to confront this common enemy together,” says Green. “We cannot allow people to segregate us.”
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
We’re joined now in Houston by Democratic Congressmember Al Green, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee. On Sunday, he attended a rally for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father of three U.S citizens, shot and killed by an ICE agent July 7th. He had been in this country for almost 35 years. Last week, Congressman Green took to the House floor to warn of a possible Trump cover-up in the killing.
Representative Green, thank you so much for being with us. If you can talk about what you are demanding now and the congressional hearing on the road in Houston that will take place on Friday?
REP. AL GREEN: Well, thank you for having me, Amy. May I please take just a moment to compliment you on the excellent reporting. That was probably the best that I’ve heard or read in terms of what actually happened, and those reporters should be commended highly.
I’m grateful to have this opportunity to talk about the demands. The demands are very simple: a demand for justice. The justice has to include an investigation. The investigation has to be independent. It has to be transparent. It has to give us the opportunity to know what happened to Mr. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. We still don’t have all of the facts. We have what typically happens in these circumstances, which is ICE will make a statement, and then, after they make a statement that appears to be bogus, they will say, “Wait until all of the facts are out.” Well, they have rushed to judgment, and then they encourage that others not rush to judgment, but they make the initial statement that creates the confusion that surrounds a case, which is the case with what happened here.
My belief is that there is an attempt to cover up currently taking place. And that attempt to cover up is something that ICE has perpetrated in other cases. We can recall what happened in Minnesota. We remember Mr Pretti. We remember what happened with Ms. Good. These attempts to cover up have manifested themselves, and they’ve been exposed. And that’s what’s happening now.
And, Amy, it’s done for a given reason. You take all of the evidence, and you don’t share it with any of the local constabulary. And in so doing, you can present the case to the grand jury. If you don’t get a true bill, if there’s no indictment, you win. If there is an indictment, it’s a federal indictment. And that then allows the president to do what I call cleanup. He can then pardon the people if they are convicted. He’s demonstrated that he would do this when he pardoned some 1,500 people who assaulted the citadel of democracy, the United States Capitol, when there was a peaceful transfer of power.
So, yes, there is going to be a shadow hearing in Houston, Texas, under the leadership of the Honorable Bennie Thompson, who is the ranking member, which means that if Democrats had 218 or more members of Congress, he would be the chairperson of the committee. This man has demonstrated his fairness over the years as the chairperson of the committee when they investigated the impeachment of President Trump, evidence that kind of led to the impeachment. So, the Chicano — the Hispanic Caucus will, of course, be a lead organization, as they should be. This is something that involves a community that they strongly represent. We all represent communities, but they are intimately involved, and they should be a lead organization. This will be a joint hearing here in Houston. I’m honored to sit on the Homeland Security Committee.
And my hope is that we will hear from the district attorney. He has made some very bold and powerful statements. My hope is that, if given the opportunity, we’ll hear from lawyers and people who have talked to the persons who are presently incarcerated, the three men who were in that truck and who have given accounts that are contrary and antithetical to what the government has said.
This is an important hearing. It will expose more, but it will also cause this case to remain a part of the public dialogue. Unfortunately, these things happen with a degree of rapidity such that we have one circumstance that we are trying to understand, and we find ourselves moving on to another circumstance that we don’t understand. We’ve had something to happen now in Maine, and the cameras will move to Maine. And as a result, what has happened here will somehow become secondary or tertiary news. We have to make it primary news, and this is one of the reasons why this shadow hearing is so important.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the relationship between the African American community, Congressmember Al Green, and the Latino community? So often attempts are made to pit them against each other. Talk about the coalescing right now in Houston around the death of Mr. Salgado Araujo.
REP. AL GREEN: The best evidence of it is what took place last evening, last night, at the Community of Faith. This is a church under the leadership of Bishop James Dixon. And there was a cross section of persons there from all faiths, generally speaking. We had persons of different hues, different ethnicities. And we were all there to say to each other that we must respect and we must work with each other. Someone mentioned Dr. King’s words: “We must all learn to live together as brothers” — and sisters, I might add — “or we will perish together as fools.”
We are doing just that, learning to live together such that we can take on the challenges of our time and confront a common enemy that continues to become a part or be a part of our lives. And that common enemy, my dear sister, is invidious discrimination. Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans, and we have to confront this common enemy together. We cannot allow people to segregate us and cause us to believe that one is somehow benefiting from opportunities that belong to the other. We have to work together, and we are working together.
I’m honored to say that the Honorable Sylvia Garcia has done an outstanding job of presenting this case to the public. She has been assisted by other people, but she’s done an outstanding job. And we are working together.
And yes, you’re eminently correct: There have been attempts, not just with this case, but in the main in the country, to divide Latinos and African Americans, to keep us at odds with each other such that we don’t focus on that common enemy, which is invidious discrimination. And it happens every day in the lives of these communities.
People want to believe that there is no racism in the country. Well, you’re wrong. They want to believe that there really is no discrimination in the country. Some people would say this, but they’re wrong. It does exist. Now, does it exist to the same extent that it did some hundred years ago, when we had lawful segregation, which was a form of racism? No, it doesn’t exist to that same extent. But it does exist to the extent that it has an impact on the daily lives of people working in the country, and we have to fight it. And we are working together.
And my hope is that this will give us greater unity. This man’s life can stand for a lot of things, but in dying, he can also do something that we may not have done, but for his death. And God forgive me for having to even say that. But maybe it will cause us to realize that we’re all in the same boat. Some of us may be here from different places, but we’re in the same boat now, and we should move together in the same boat toward liberty and justice for all.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you, Democratic Congressmember Al Green of Texas, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee. Again, on Friday, the Hispanic Caucus will be holding a field hearing in Houston. And we hope to have you on again soon, Congressmember Green, as you are outgoing, having lost the primary, targeted, among others, by the cryptocurrency industry. We want to talk about all that with you and your more than 20-year career in Congress and what your plans are. I want to thank you so much for being with us from Houston.
Coming up, millions of people across North America facing another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “Abaq” by Palestinian musician Huda Asfour, performing in our Democracy Now! studio. To hear her full performance and interview — she is a biomedical engineer, taught at [George Washington University] — go to democracynow.org.
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