Beyond the Covers is closed today (July 24th) in answer to the call for a city-wide economic blackout to demand 1) justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 2) a release of the witnesses from custody, and 3) an end to the Houston Police Department's cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Since ICE and CBP were established in 2003, the agencies have terrorized immigrant communities; conducted unconstitutional border checkpoints; torn apart families; denied immigrants their due process rights; and subjected detained immigrants to physical, sexual, and mental abuse.

After two decades and hundreds of billions in funding, it is clear that this lawless and violent agency cannot operate without terrorizing the communities it claims to serve. Congress must demand full, independent investigations into these killings and call for the abolition of ICE.