ICE shooting in Austin investigated by DHS and FBI

The Department of Homeland Security said it is leading an investigation with help from the FBI into an ICE agent's shooting of a Venezuelan man in Austin, Texas, after local officials demanded outside scrutiny.

The man, identified by his lawyer as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was shot in the torso on Sunday and taken to hospital in serious but stable condition, officials said. His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on X that he was shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent while making a DoorDash delivery.

The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that Garces Perez had entered the United States illegally under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal. It said his condition was stable and that he was in federal custody pending removal.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said the shooting happened during what he called a sudden increase in ICE operations in the Texas capital. He said he was “very angry and extremely disappointed” that a person had been shot by ICE on Austin's streets and said local law enforcement should be involved in the investigation.

“The credibility of ICE doing some form of investigation just by itself and excluding others would not be appropriate,” Watson said.

Texas Democratic Representative Greg Casar also called for body camera footage from Sunday's incident to be released. He told reporters that ICE had not been truthful in shootings in other cities, citing the January shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, where he said video contradicted ICE accounts that she had tried to run over a federal agent.

Casar later said Garces Perez had been taken out of hospital and into ICE custody. He said the wounded man should not be removed from the United States and should receive proper medical care. Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client had been placed into custody but that she did not know his location.

Local news outlets posted video on social media showing several dozen people protesting at the alleged shooting site.

The incident comes amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Department of Homeland Security figures cited in the material said nearly 51,000 undocumented migrants were arrested in the United States in August.