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Activist groups gathered on the City Hall steps Tuesday to ask residents and businesses to participate in a "No Business As Usual" protest to call for action following the fatal shooting of a Houstonian by immigration agents this month.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican citizen who had lived in the country for 35 years, was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents July 7 during a traffic stop in Magnolia Park.
Speakers from the Texas Civil Rights Project, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Stand Up! Houston, Amigos de Los Salgado and other groups on Tuesday demanded the release of the names of the agents involved in Salgado's death, the release of the men who were passengers in the van Salgado was driving and an end to the Houston Police Department's cooperation with ICE.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Houston vowed to curb ICE cooperation. Police still waited hours for agents.
They also asked Houstonians to participate in a 6 p.m. Friday protest at Hidalgo Park in the East End, as well as to close businesses, stay home and not shop or spend money Friday to stop "business as usual."
"How we, the people of Houston, respond to this moment is of incredible importance," said Griffin Walker, with Stand Up! Houston.
Mayor John Whitmire initially said the city lacked the jurisdiction to investigate the shooting, as federal authorities are taking the lead in the case. He then directed Houston police to support District Attorney Sean Teare's independent probe and to offer resources to federal authorities.
Whitmire also asked the Texas Rangers to investigate; Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Wednesday the state agency would do so.
Similar "No Business As Usual" protests following the killing of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents drew hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Minneapolis, impeding Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale federal immigration operation that ended earlier this year.
More than 700 businesses across Minnesota shut down in solidarity with the protestors.
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