Al Green has introduced articles of impeachment to remove President Trump.
Juhi Varma
– The Katy News Journalist
What are we doing?
Impeaching President Trump.
Hasn’t it been tried before?
Yes. More than once.
If the House tables it again, what’s the point?
A record, they said.
But if it passes?
The Senate holds a trial. The chief justice presides. A conviction removes the president. No appeal.
That was the argument inside Morales Radio Hall on Friday morning, where U.S. Rep. Al Green and Texas State Reps. Christina Morales and Ron Reynolds stood with LULAC and other Houston advocates to talk about H.Res. 1486, Green’s articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
H.Res. 1486 accuses the president of abusing office by running ICE and CBP as unaccountable, quota-driven forces and of condoning civilian deaths, including those of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Johan Sebastian Durán Guerrero and Houston’s Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
“The judiciary can’t hand out justice because the United States of America’s Justice Department is hiding evidence from local prosecutors–such that if there is to be a case, it will be a case filed in a federal court, in a federal court where President Trump can pardon the killers,” Green said.
Christina Morales speaks at press conference
There is a record
Rep. Morales, whose family owns the historic Morales Radio Hall in Houston’s East End where the press conference took place, drew a parallel between the building’s history and the debate over immigration taking place there.
Her grandparents built the hall in 1950, she said, and established La Voz Latina, a popular Spanish-language radio station.
Newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrants could turn to the station for news, music, hurricane information and employment opportunities.
She contrasted that history with Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death. Salgado, she said, was doing the work that station used to advertise –driving a crew to a construction job on Canal Street.
“Lorenzo was doing exactly what my grandfather used to, connect people to jobs to do: get up and go to work and take care of your family,” Morales said. “That’s why this press conference is in this room, because this is the room where my family told immigrants that they were welcome to Houston.”
Green noted that President Trump was in Houston that day to visit NASA but did not meet with Salgado’s family or offer his condolences.
The 52-year-old father and husband was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston on July 7.
Questions have also arisen over an allegation about a white substance found in Salgado Araujo’s vehicle. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz subsequently said FBI laboratory testing determined the substance was not methamphetamine.
Nearly two months later, the ICE officer who fired the fatal shot has not been publicly identified.
Some people would call impeachment symbolism, Morales said. She rejected that. She voted to impeach Ken Paxton in 2023. The Senate acquitted him, she said, but the evidence did not vanish. Impeachment, she argued, is how Congress can force names, quotas, signed orders, and sworn testimony into the open—especially the names of officers she said the administration will not release. Local prosecutors, she added, can use a public record after the fact.
“The conviction in the Senate is not the only outcome that defines success,” Morales said, arguing that evidence produced through the process remained part of the public record.
“The record will outlast it,” she said. “This is what justice and accountability and transparency are about.”
Reynolds called it a watershed and said Green should not stand alone.
“There should be not one Democrat that doesn’t stand by Congressman Green on this,” said Reynolds, a Missouri City Democrat.
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Longtime LULAC activist Johnny Mata, Cesar Espinosa and Dr. Sergio Lira, representing Houstonians for Justice, spoke of detention numbers, children in custody, and a record that can be waiting if control of the House changes in November. Lira said the filing does two things at once: it shows where they stand now, and it means they would not start from zero later.
Abigail Avila, whose mother, Margarita Avila, was deported to Belize in September 2025, also attended the press conference. Avila said her father, who was legally granted a permit in 2013, is now being held by CBP, leaving her to care for her younger brothers
“There are those who will say we should wait until next year when we’ll have the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate,” Green said. “But in waiting, additional lives can be lost at the hands of CBP and ICE.”
He later said he was willing to debate Democrats or Republicans who disagree with his approach.
“This is a time of decision,” Green said. “It’s a seminal moment in time.”
Green also rejected the argument that pursuing impeachment would distract Congress from issues such as the cost of living.
“We can have affordability and accountability at the same time,” he said. “We can do multiple things in Congress.”
What happens next?
Green filed H.Res. 1486 on Aug. 24. The resolution has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Asked Friday what would happen if the House ultimately approved articles of impeachment, Green explained that they would then go to the Senate for a trial.
“If the Congress votes to impeach, then the articles of impeachment will be sent to the Senate, and the Senate will then conduct the trial,” Green said.
A conviction by the Senate would result in Trump’s removal from office.
For Green, however, the first hurdle is the House.
He predicted there would be an effort to table his resolution, which would force lawmakers to decide whether the impeachment effort should proceed.
Green said Friday that regardless of the political odds, he intends to force that choice.
“Your vote matters,” he said. “And I promise you, we will have that opportunity to vote.”
