The killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by a federal immigration agent has left the predominantly Latino community reeling. But for the neighborhood with a history of activism — and a history of violence at the hands of law enforcement — it’s also a call to action.
The orange walls of La Michoacana Meat Market stand out among the businesses on Canal Street in Houston’s historic East End neighborhood. For Carlos Rebollar, it’s where his family buys meat.
Describing the East End community, the first word that comes to his mind is “beautiful.” Born in Mexico, he spent most of his life living in the Houston area without legal immigration status. He became a U.S. citizen in 2017 — “You’ll kind of connect the dots as to why I really tried to become a citizen during that time,” he said — and has lived in the East End for more than a decade.
“I began to search its history, found a lot of just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful parts of this history that, to me, meant a lot as an immigrant,” he said. “Even going as far back as the first Mexicans who arrive, we’ve always been having to jump over extra obstacles and hurdles just to establish a life here.”
Just across the street from La Michoacana is a barber shop with a gravel parking lot. In front of that lot on Tuesday, a federal immigration officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who had been living in the United States for decades without permanent legal status, according to his family…