Austin Protests After ICE Officer Shoots Venezuelan Man; Family Says He Was Moved Into Custody

Anti-ICE demonstrators gathered in north Austin on Sunday evening after a federal immigration officer shot and wounded a man during an enforcement operation, according to local authorities.

The man, identified by an immigration attorney representing his family as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, a Venezuelan national, was shot once in the torso and was listed in serious but stable condition at a hospital, Austin officials said at a news conference.

Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said her officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting, which followed a traffic stop. She said her department's special investigation unit was at the scene, though she cautioned that few facts were available so soon after the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, did not take part in the briefing and did not respond to repeated requests for details.

Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said he wanted the city's police department involved in the investigation so it could offer "clear, third-party eyes." He said it would not be appropriate for ICE to investigate the matter on its own, adding that residents have a right to feel safe in their city and that a credible inquiry would strengthen public confidence.

Asked whether local authorities knew the whereabouts of the federal agent involved, Watson said they did not, but expressed hope that an agent connected to an officer-involved shooting would not leave the city or the state. The Travis County district attorney's office asked that local police and prosecutors be included in the investigation and requested federal cooperation in providing access to evidence.

Attorney Kate Lincoln Goldfinch said in a video posted to Instagram that she believed Garces Perez had no criminal history and no final order of removal from the United States, but she later said she did not know his current immigration status. She said the family had struggled to obtain information from the hospital about his condition or location.

Just before 7 p.m., the man's wife was told by a hospital attorney that he had been released into ICE custody several hours earlier, Lincoln Goldfinch said. "No one bothered to update her," she wrote. It was not immediately clear whether he remained hospitalized while in ICE custody or had been transferred elsewhere.

At the scene, a dark blue Toyota Corolla sat under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes. The car was towed away in the early evening and traffic resumed. A large law enforcement presence remained alongside roughly a hundred protesters, some of whom shouted at officers holding riot shields while passing cars honked in support. One demonstrator held a sign reading "Nobody is safe" on one side and "ICE Nazi" on the other.

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents parts of Austin, called for transparency in the investigation. "It is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep," he told reporters, adding that ICE should end its surge in the city for Austin to be safe.

The shooting comes amid a nationwide increase in ICE enforcement this summer, with arrests surpassing 50,000 a month in July and August for the first time in the agency's history. In July, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo of Houston after federal agents in unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was driving his construction crew to a job site. That same month, 25-year-old Johan Sebastián, a Colombian man, was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. The administration's enforcement efforts drew widespread condemnation last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.