Texas Officials Demand Independent Probe After ICE Agent Shoots, Wounds Venezuelan Man in Austin
A 28-year-old Venezuelan national was shot and wounded by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Austin, Texas, officials said Sunday, setting off outrage and demands for a thorough and independent investigation.
The man, identified by his lawyer as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was shot in the torso and taken to a hospital in the Texas capital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition, officials said.
His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said in a post on X that Garces Perez was shot by an ICE agent while making 'a DoorDash delivery.'
The shooting occurred as ICE operations in Austin increased by a 'significant' degree, 'almost overnight,' Mayor Kirk Watson said at a news conference.
The encounter quickly became a flashpoint in the broader fight over President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement campaign. ICE, the agency tasked with carrying out that crackdown, has faced growing backlash across the country over heavily armed and often masked agents and aggressive tactics. The criticism has included shootings of U.S. citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that it was leading an investigation into the officer involved, with assistance from the FBI.
In a post on X, the department said the man had 'illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.' It added that his condition was stable and that he was in federal custody pending removal.
Watson said he was 'very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot on the streets of Austin by ICE.'
He argued that local law enforcement should be part of the investigation, saying the credibility of an ICE-led inquiry that excluded others 'would not be appropriate.'
U.S. Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, echoed that concern, telling reporters that 'ICE has not been truthful in shootings in other cities.'
Casar pointed to the January shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, where video footage contradicted ICE accounts that she had tried to run over a federal agent.
'It is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep,' he said. 'A few weeks ago as we saw the ICE surge come ... I and others said that ICE needed to leave before someone was shot.'
The House Democrat called for the release of body camera footage from Sunday's incident.
Deportation threat
A few hours later, Casar said Garces Perez had been 'taken out of the hospital and into ICE custody.'
'If ICE deports him, the key witness to their shooting disappears,' the lawmaker added. 'He must not be removed from this country, and he must receive proper medical care.'
Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client had been placed 'into custody, but we still don't know his location.'
The shooting sparked anger in the community. Video posted by local news outlets on social media showed several dozen people protesting at the site where the shooting allegedly occurred.
The case is likely to intensify scrutiny of ICE's expanding operations and the accountability questions surrounding the agency, particularly when those operations result in shootings. It also raises the stakes of the custody fight: if Garces Perez is deported before the investigation is complete, supporters say, a central witness could be beyond the reach of U.S. investigators.
Trump campaigned for president in 2016 and again in 2024 on a promise to expel millions of undocumented immigrants. Since returning to the White House, he has taken a series of dramatic steps aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.
Nearly 51,000 undocumented migrants were arrested in the United States in August, according to Department of Homeland Security figures.
Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old, was shot by ICE in March 2025, in what the Texas Tribune said was the first known killing by immigration agents of an American during Trump's second term.