A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, local authorities reported, prompting anti-ICE protesters to gather at the scene. The man, identified by an immigration attorney as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan national, was hospitalized in serious but stable condition after being shot once in the torso.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, confirmed the man was in stable condition and “in federal custody pending removal.” Homeland Security Investigations, with FBI assistance, is investigating the shooting, stating the man had “illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.”
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis confirmed city police were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which occurred after a traffic stop. Mayor Kirk Watson expressed a desire for the city's police department to participate in the investigation to provide “clear, third-party eyes,” stating it would not be appropriate for ICE to investigate alone.
The Texas Department of Public Safety stated it received a request for assistance from ICE in a vehicle pursuit around 12:50 p.m. By the time DPS troopers arrived, the shooting had already occurred.
Attorney Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, representing the man's family, initially stated she believed he had no criminal history or final order of removal, but later told The Associated Press she was unsure of his current immigration status. She also noted the family struggled to obtain information about his condition and whereabouts from the hospital.
A crowd of about a hundred protesters gathered, with some expressing anger toward police officers present. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who represents parts of Austin, called for transparency in the investigation and stated, “For Austin to be safe, ICE should end its surge here.”
The incident occurs as ICE has increased enforcement nationwide, with July and August seeing over 50,000 arrests per month for the first time in the agency's history. This follows other recent incidents, including an ICE officer fatally shooting a man in Houston in July and another shooting in Maine the same month.