Weekend Reformer: Videos leading up to Houston ICE shooting

Good morning, Reformers. 

More video footage has emerged of the moments surrounding the Tuesday ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant, in Houston. Salgado Araujo was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop targeting a different person who wasn’t in the van with him, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Various clips from surveillance cameras and bystander footage, published by news outlets, trace parts of the driving leading up to the fatal shooting, when two unmarked cars trail Salgado Araujo’s white van, and then the moment an officer pulls a passenger from the car and arrests him beside the white van. Bystander footage taken seconds later shows Salgado Araujo, the driver, lying on the ground and soaked in blood as two officers bend over him. 

I found the New York Times’ presentation of the footage helpful (gift link). 

In a statement Tuesday, DHS said that the officer fired in self-defense after Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over” one of the officers. It was the same narrative the agency used to blame Renee Good for her own killing by an ICE officer in January in Minneapolis. 

The three men who were in the van with Salgado Araujo said, through an attorney, that at no point were agents in front of the van, and that Salgado Araujo did not try to weaponize his vehicle. None of the video that’s emerged thus far appears to show any ICE officers in front of the van. 

On Friday in Minnesota, ICE arrested and deported Tou Lue Vang, a Hmong man who was convicted of raping and sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl from 2002 to 2004. 

Vang was pardoned by Gov. Tim Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson last month. The deciding factor was a letter of forgiveness from Vang’s victim, the Star Tribune reported. Ramsey County prosecutors opposed the pardon, citing his lack of expressed insight into what his victim went through. 

The Trump administration publicized the deportation, highlighting Walz’s decision to pardon the sex offender without mentioning the letter of forgiveness.

Records show MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a leading candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, owes $48,000 in property taxes, Michelle Griffith reported. He said he’s paid up, though, as of Friday, Hennepin county records still show the outstanding debt. 

South Dakota-based Sanford Health is looking to acquire North Memorial Health, which operates a safety net hospital in Robbinsdale as well as a hospital in Maple Grove. I reported from a public forum hosted by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office Tuesday, where the Sanford CEO and North Memorial CEO fielded questions about the proposed acquisition. (There’s another one Monday evening about the proposed acquisition of Allina Health by Sutter Health.) 

Newly unredacted portions of an investigative report indicate Minneapolis Public Schools’ top accountant, Aaron Gilbert, decided on her own to improperly withhold $3 million in payments to a health care trust account, reported Melissa Whitler. The improper withholding is among a raft of problems that beset the beleaguered district’s finance office during the past two years.

An early spike in applications for the state’s new paid leave program has since tapered off, and applications by the end of the year may match up with pre-launch estimates, Michelle reported. 

Local election officials tested a voting machine at a public event in Stillwater on Wednesday to reassure voters of their accuracy amid heavy-handed federal scrutiny of the state’s election administration, Ria Gupta reported. 

The Trump administration’s de facto freeze on wind energy puts 1,200 construction jobs, 4,400 “indirect and induced” jobs and more than $168 million in economic impact at risk for Minnesota, according to a new report from a St. Paul-based progressive think tank, Brian Martucci reported. 

MNsure health insurance enrollment dropped 12% in May 2026 compared to May 2025, I reported. The dip in insurance coverage offered on MNsure — the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace — was expected after most Republican senators blocked Democratic efforts to extend extra federal subsidies that offset the cost of health care premiums for millions of Americans. 

Minnesota began distributing $40 million in extra rental assistance, Madi McVan reported.  Gov. Tim Walz proposed the rental assistance funding in the wake of Operation Metro Surge, which caused many immigrants to hide at home — in some cases, forgoing work — for fear of arrest, deportation and violence.

Minneapolis resident Ryan Campbell introduced Live Democracy, an AI-powered tool he built to help citizens easily follow along with bills and policies that affect them — and see how their representatives are voting.  

Jessica Nielson, the chair of the Minnesota Psychedelic Medicine Task Force, wrote that Minnesota has an opportunity to be a leader and pioneer in creating a psilocybin therapeutic access program.

Aaron Wittnebel, a Red Lake Nation member and Becker County resident, wrote that the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act has changed Medicaid administration by adding shorter reporting cycles, new verification requirements and potential financial penalties. In practice, those changes fall on local offices already managing workforce shortages, aging systems and high caseloads.

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