An immigration enforcement agent shot and injured a person in Austin on Sunday, metropolis officers stated.
Police nor the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety recognized the person. However Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an Austin immigration lawyer, stated she was employed to characterize the person and that he was launched from the hospital and into federal custody Sunday night.
She recognized him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, of Venezuela, and stated he had a legitimate work allow and entered the U.S. legally. The legal professional stated he was doing a DoorDash supply when the capturing occurred, and the person subsequently known as his spouse from contained in the car.
In an announcement issued late Sunday evening, DHS officers stated Homeland Safety Investigations — one of many division branches — would probe the capturing, with assist from the FBI. With out naming Garces Perez, the assertion stated he entered the nation illegally underneath Biden however didn’t present further data.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration granted momentary immigration advantages to residents from numerous international locations who couldn’t return residence safely, together with these from Venezuela. President Donald Trump’s administration has erased these protections and focused these individuals.
DHS officers additionally stated the capturing occurred throughout a regulation enforcement operation however didn’t element how the person got here onto their radar. The division added that his situation has stabilized, earlier than suggesting that federal authorities are searching for to deport him.
Dozens of protesters gathered on the web site of the capturing all through the day, angrily shouting at regulation enforcement officers after what was no less than the third occasion of an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent capturing an individual in Texas since March 2025. Austin’s mayor stated the capturing got here amid elevated ICE operations within the metropolis within the latest few weeks.
On Sunday afternoon, an ICE agent shot a person after a “small foot pursuit,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and different metropolis officers stated throughout a information convention. The person was wounded by a single gunshot within the higher torso, native officers stated.
Lincoln-Goldfinch stated the household hadn’t “been permitted to see him and haven’t acquired a significant replace concerning his present standing or circumstances. Our rapid concern is making certain that his household receives correct and well timed data and that acceptable entry and communication are offered whereas the matter is being addressed.”
The scene of the capturing at occasions grew to become intense. Dozens of Austin law enforcement officials had been on the scene close to Analysis Boulevard and Anderson Sq.. Simply earlier than 6 p.m., officers shot pepper ball-like projectiles on the crowd after some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at regulation enforcement as some had been readying to depart the world.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stated at a information convention earlier within the day that he desires an impartial investigation into the capturing, partly, due to the “chaos” we see it inflicting.
Regardless that Austin police weren’t concerned within the operation that led to the capturing, he stated it can be crucial that the town’s residents know what occurred and why.
Watson stated he’s “indignant” however “not shocked in any respect” that an ICE agent has shot somebody within the metropolis, particularly since immigration operations have picked up prior to now few weeks.
Austin police and Texas Rangers plan to analyze the capturing together with the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, the federal company that oversees immigration enforcement, Davis stated.
“If there’s nothing flawed with that, they need to welcome an investigation. And in the event you’re professional regulation enforcement, it is best to see that an investigation that’s accomplished proper will solely improve credibility,“ the mayor stated. “Austinites ought to know the reality, and I’m happy that we’re in a state of affairs the place Austin may also be concerned on this investigation.”
Officers from the Travis County District Legal professional’s Workplace, led by José Garza, stated they wish to assessment the proof Austin police gathers as a part of its investigation.
“We additional request cooperation from the federal authorities in giving us entry to the proof. As has occurred in different jurisdictions, it’s attainable that this incident included violations of state regulation,” the workplace’s assertion reads.
Sheridan Nolen, a spokesperson for the Texas Division of Public Security, stated state troopers acquired a name at round 12:50 p.m. from ICE officers asking for assist in a pursuit of a blue Toyota Corolla. Earlier than troopers arrived, the ICE agent had shot the person, Nolen stated.
“As soon as they arrived, DPS Troopers instantly started helping companion regulation enforcement companies in performing medical remedy on the motive force of the Toyota Corolla,” Nolen stated.
Dozens of demonstrators remained on the North Austin scene into the night, some carrying indicators and flags, shouting expletives about ICE and police.
David Torres, 24, discovered of the capturing by way of connections from a group group he runs, Dare to Battle. He confirmed up about 2:30 p.m. and deliberate to remain so long as there was a crowd.
“So long as these deportations proceed, increasingly individuals can be tortured behind partitions and killed on the streets,” he stated.
Trump’s administration has elevated its immigration enforcement operations throughout the nation, together with Texas, a state with one of many largest immigration populations. 1 / 4 of the half of million migrants the Trump administration has arrested and searching for to deport are from Texas.
It’s unclear when or underneath what immigration program the person injured Sunday could have entered the nation. However underneath the Biden administration, the DHS had created pathways for some immigrants, together with Venezuelans, to enter the U.S. legally.
Many Venezuelans had entered the U.S. utilizing the CBP One cellphone software that required individuals to make an appointment to satisfy an immigration official at a port of entry on the border. Others entered underneath a parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, which allowed individuals to use from their residence nation. In the event that they handed a prison background verify and will show they might be financially steady they might be allowed to enter the U.S. By both program, the individual was allowed to use for a piece allow. Many Venezuelans who utilized moved to Texas.
On his first day again in workplace, President Trump scrapped the applications and categorized migrants in these applications as “unlawful aliens” as a part of his mass deportation efforts. Advocacy teams have sued the Trump administration over the strikes arguing that the White Home didn’t comply with commonplace process to cancel the applications the proper manner and that the Biden administration had the authorized proper to parole immigrants into the nation as acknowledged in immigration regulation. The lawsuits are pending.
The administration’s elevated immigration enforcement has led to ICE brokers fatally capturing different individuals throughout the nation, together with in Texas. The enforcement has additionally led to deaths of immigrants in immigrant detention facilities.
Immigration brokers in January fatally shot 37-year-old Renée Good and 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis throughout separate protests towards immigration enforcement operations.
In March 2025, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in South Padre Island after officers stated he “bumped” them together with his automotive. The demise of Martinez, who was born and raised in San Antonio, is the primary identified killing of an American by immigration brokers underneath Trump’s second administration.
This summer time, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7. His household stated Araujo was on his solution to work and should have feared he was being robbed. Investigations into that killing are ongoing.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, who additionally at Sunday’s information convention, stated he supported outdoors companies investigating the capturing as a result of “ICE has not been truthful in shootings in different cities.”
“It’s acceptable for this group to ask for independence, to ask for transparency, and to ask for accountability,” he stated. “This can be a sample. It’s a disturbing sample, and it’s bought to cease.”
This can be a growing story and can be up to date regularly.
This text first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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