An ICE officer shot a 28-year-old Venezuelan man during an enforcement operation in Austin, Texas on Sunday, and now a Democratic congressman wants body-camera footage released while the man sits in federal detention with a bullet still in his back.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot once in the torso during what Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis called a "small foot pursuit" under a highway overpass on the city's north side. Austin-Travis County EMS arrived within five minutes of being notified at approximately 12:56 p.m. and transported Garces Perez to Dell Seton Medical Center within nine minutes, where he was listed in serious but stable condition.
By Sunday night, a crowd of demonstrators had gathered near the scene. And by the time Garces Perez's attorney issued a statement, the 28-year-old had already been discharged from the hospital, with the bullet still lodged in his back, and transferred to ICE custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, AP News reported, where he was held reportedly without pain medication.
The Department of Homeland Security posted on X that Garces Perez "illegally entered the country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal." DHS added that his "condition is stable, and he is in federal custody pending removal."
His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, offered a sharply different account. In a statement to Fox News, she said:
"We are actively working to obtain additional information and clarify the circumstances surrounding the matter. We do not want to speculate or provide information that has not yet been confirmed. What we do understand is that he previously held a valid work permit and that, based on the information available to us, he entered the United States lawfully."
Those two accounts, illegal entry with a final removal order versus lawful entry with a valid work permit, remain unresolved. No court documents, immigration filings, or third-party records in the available reporting settle the question either way.
A spokesperson for Lincoln-Goldfinch's office told AP News that Garces Perez was an asylum seeker who entered the U.S. through a parole program and had no criminal history. Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz, the spokesperson, said:
"Regardless of his status, the use of force was unwarranted. As far as we understand, he was here legally."
DHS has not publicly explained what triggered the foot pursuit or why the ICE officer discharged his weapon. Authorities had not publicly disclosed any information indicating Garces Perez fired a weapon or was armed at the time of the shooting.
Lincoln-Goldfinch issued a second statement after her client was moved from the hospital, raising concerns about his treatment and his family's inability to reach him. She said hospital attorneys at Dell Seton confirmed Garces Perez had been released into what she believed was ICE custody after roughly six hours.
"We are deeply concerned that his wife and family have not been permitted to see him and have not received a meaningful update regarding his current condition or whereabouts."
Lincoln-Goldfinch scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. Monday in collaboration with the League of United Latin American Citizens to address the case publicly. The broader question of whether Garces Perez received adequate medical care, given that the bullet reportedly remained in his back upon transfer to the Pearsall detention center, has drawn additional scrutiny.
The incident fits a pattern that has already forced policy changes at the federal level. Earlier this year, DHS ordered ICE to halt vehicle stops after fatal shootings in other states raised questions about enforcement tactics.
Mayor Kirk Watson, Police Chief Lisa Davis, and EMS Chief Robert Luckritz addressed reporters Sunday afternoon. Watson described himself as "very angry" and "extremely unhappy" about the shooting, while accusing ICE of creating fear and chaos in Austin and other cities.
Watson also questioned whether ICE could credibly investigate the shooting without local involvement. Breitbart reported that Watson said directly: "It wouldn't be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own."
Davis confirmed that the Austin Police Department was not involved in the shooting itself and had only assisted with traffic control. She said APD's Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers would work together on their own investigation.
"The city of Austin deserves answers. We're going to get all those questions answered, and we'll be as transparent as we can be."
Watson warned against rushing to conclusions based on early claims circulating on TikTok, X, and other social media, calling the information "extremely preliminary." Later Sunday, DHS announced that Homeland Security Investigations would take the lead on the federal probe, with FBI assistance.
Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat, posted on X shortly after the shooting: "ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning." He followed up: "Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability."
Casar's accusation that ICE has repeatedly lied about shootings is a claim he did not support with specific examples in the posts cited. But at a news conference later Sunday, he escalated further.
"They've arrested 5-year-olds... and now someone has been shot. This has got to stop."
He called the incident part of a "disturbing pattern" and demanded a full, independent investigation along with the immediate release of any body-camera footage. Casar also argued that if ICE deports Garces Perez, "the key witness to their shooting disappears."
Casar's framing, that ICE cannot be trusted to investigate its own agents, and that deportation would amount to destroying evidence, is a political argument, not a legal finding. Whether body cameras were worn by the agents involved, and whether footage has been preserved, remains unanswered.
Other Democratic figures have made similar demands in recent months. Rep. Ilhan Omar called for abolishing ICE entirely after fatal shootings earlier this year, though the facts in those cases proved more complicated than the initial political reaction suggested.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, offered a starkly different reaction on X. Roy referred to Garces Perez as the "shooter", a characterization unsupported by any publicly disclosed information indicating Garces Perez fired a weapon. Roy framed the broader conflict this way:
"The war is the one being waged against Americans through mass legal & illegal immigration."
The Austin incident is not the first ICE-involved shooting to draw national attention this year. In early January, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis after authorities said she tried to use her vehicle to run over federal officers. On January 24, ICE agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, also in Minneapolis, as he recorded federal officers.
Those two deaths prompted significant policy shifts. President Trump overruled his own DHS and ordered ICE to resume traffic stops after the agency had initially paused them in response to the fatal encounters.
In a separate episode, clashes erupted in May outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in New Jersey, where Newark Mayor Ras Baraka criticized tactics used by state troopers sent to secure the facility. The New York Post noted that the Austin shooting adds to a growing list of ICE-involved incidents in 2026.
Each of these episodes has followed a familiar cycle: a shooting, contested accounts from federal authorities and advocates, political demands for transparency, and unresolved questions about what actually happened in the seconds before an agent pulled the trigger.
Austin Police Chief Davis acknowledged she had not yet been briefed by federal authorities as of Sunday's press conference. Fox News Digital reached out to both ICE and the Texas Department of Public Safety for additional information. Neither response was reported.
What triggered the foot pursuit remains unclear. Whether the ICE officer wore a body camera, and whether any footage exists, is unknown. The specific location of the shooting beyond "Austin's north side" has not been disclosed. And the central factual dispute, whether Garces Perez entered the country illegally or through a lawful parole program, sits unresolved between DHS and his own attorney.
The broader political tensions around ICE enforcement have only deepened as DHS leadership has clashed publicly with members of both parties over the scope and conduct of immigration operations.
Garces Perez's attorney says he was making a DoorDash delivery when ICE agents stopped him. DHS says he had a final order of removal. One of those accounts will eventually be supported by records. Until then, a man sits in a detention center in Pearsall with a bullet in his back, and the agency that put it there is leading the investigation into why.
