As he prepared to leave his home in Houston, Lorenzo Salgado Sr had just over an hour to live.
asserted
Sr → prepare → hour
The construction worker started July 7 the same way he had for the last 30 years.
asserted
he → start → years
He woke up, grabbed his lunch and a coffee and left the house before 6am to put in another hard day's work.
asserted
He → wake → work
On the way, he was followed by unmarked vehicles.
asserted
he → follow → vehicles
By 7am, he was fatally shot.
asserted
he → shoot → am
He's the second person to be killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Texas this year.
asserted
He → kill → Texas
Salgado Sr was an undocumented Houston construction worker who had lived in the US for 30 years, his sons say being arrested by ICE was his biggest fear.
Instead they killed him.
asserted
they → live → him
CCTV shows an unmarked vehicle pursuing Lorenzo's van, but there is no footage of the actual shooting.
asserted
vehicle → show → shooting
The agent who shot him through the passenger side window was not wearing a body camera.
asserted
who → shoot → camera
Authorities claimed that Lorenzo drove towards an ICE agent.
asserted
Lorenzo → claim → agent
"That doesn't sound like our dad," Lorenzo Jr says.
asserted
Jr → sound → dad
"Our dad had a great respect for the law.
asserted
dad → have → law
"Had he known that these were officers, he would've stopped.
asserted
he → know → ?
He would've complied, but these officers failed to identify themselves."
Ronaldo Salgado thinks his dad thought he was being robbed.
"
asserted
he → comply → themselves
I imagine him being scared of someone trying to steal his van, his tools, that morning, and I am fairly confident that some of his last thoughts were about us, because he cared a lot about us.
"
asserted
he → imagine → us
He cared a lot about his wife, our mum, and I know he worried about him leaving us alone."
Four months on Lorenzo Jr wants America's Latino population to do just one thing to remember his father: vote.
"
asserted
population → care → father
Voting is voluntary, so at least in some of the lower income neighbourhoods that are accustomed to not being heard, they feel that their votes don't matter," he tells 7.30.
asserted
he → accustom → 7.30
"I think voter turnout is going to make the difference."
asserted
turnout → think → difference
At the 2024 US presidential election America's Latino community was split between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
asserted
community → split → Trump
But at the midterms polls suggest Latinos will heavily favour the Democratic Party, largely because of a backlash against widespread immigration arrests and the deaths of at least nine people by ICE operations since Donald Trump was elected to a second term in the White House.
asserted
Trump → suggest → House
Living in fear
The arrests and killings have up-ended America's Latino communities.
asserted
arrests → live → communities
In Texas alone, more than 100,000 people have been detained by ICE agents in the past two years.
asserted
people → detain → years
Many of those arrested have been deported.
asserted
Many → arrest → those
In south Texas, the prospect of being targeted by ICE has left many in the Latino community frightened.
asserted
prospect → target → community
At the sprawling Mercadome Flea Market in Alamo, near the Mexico border, customers are staying away.
asserted
customers → stay → border
ICE has arrested people in the car park of the market, says Rosa Martinez, who sells shoes and clothing.
asserted
who → arrest → shoes
The sales have gone down, I think maybe 70 per cent," Ms Martinez tells 7.30.
asserted
Martinez → go → 7.30
"Nobody wants to deal with firearms and stuff like that.
asserted
Nobody → want → that
People get scared.
asserted
People → get → ?
"
And nobody seems immune from immigration arrests — even Sister Letty Ugboaja, a nun from Nigeria who was arrested on her way to the Our Lady of Sorrows church in McAllen, Texas.
asserted
who → seem → McAllen
After a flurry of phone calls, Sister Letty was eventually released.
asserted
Letty → release → calls
Most of those detained are not so fortunate.
asserted
Most → detain → those
Parents have been arrested after dropping their children at school.
asserted
Parents → arrest → school
The church now asks parents to fill in a form allowing someone else to collect their children, just in case they are arrested after drop-off before eventually being deported.
asserted
they → ask → drop
"We don't call them illegal, we call them undocumented," says Father Jorge Gomez, the rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.
asserted
Gomez → call → Valle
"Mothers are afraid that the husband is not going to come back home after his job because there's a lot of raids, taking people, deporting people, mostly men, when they get out of work, a restaurant or a construction site or a store.
asserted
they → go → work
"We have a lot of mothers left behind with two or three kids that are in need, because the breadwinner has been deported or is in the process of being deported."
asserted
breadwinner → have → process
The evaporation of a workforce
As well as exacting a human toll, the arrests have had a significant impact on the construction industry in south Texas.
asserted
arrests → exact → Texas
Local builder Mario Guerrero has lost much of his workforce.
asserted
Guerrero → lose → workforce
A construction project in Phar, Texas, is taking years longer than it should.
asserted
it → take → Phar
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia