ICE officer shoots, injures man in Austin, officials say

By Alex Nguyen, Uriel J. García and Alejandro Serrano, The Texas Tribune
September 20, 2026

An immigration enforcement agent shot and injured a man in Austin on Sunday, city officials said.

Police nor the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the man. But Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an Austin immigration lawyer, said she was hired to represent the man and that he was released from the hospital and into federal custody Sunday evening. 

She identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, of Venezuela, and said he had a valid work permit and entered the U.S. legally. The attorney said he was doing a DoorDash delivery when the shooting happened, and the man subsequently called his wife from inside the vehicle.

In a statement issued late Sunday night, DHS officials said Homeland Security Investigations — one of the department branches — would probe the shooting, with support from the FBI. Without naming Garces Perez, the statement said he entered the country illegally under Biden but did not provide additional information. 

Former President Joe Biden’s administration granted temporary immigration benefits to citizens from a number of countries who could not return home safely, including those from Venezuela. President Donald Trump’s administration has erased those protections and targeted those people. 

DHS officials also said the shooting happened during a law enforcement operation but did not detail how the man came onto their radar. The department added that his condition has stabilized, before suggesting that federal authorities are seeking to deport him.

Dozens of protesters gathered at the site of the shooting throughout the day, angrily shouting at law enforcement officers after what was at least the third instance of an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shooting a person in Texas since March 2025. Austin’s mayor said the shooting came amid increased ICE operations in the city in the recent few weeks.    

On Sunday afternoon, an ICE agent shot a man after a “small foot pursuit,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and other city officials said during a news conference. The man was wounded by a single gunshot in the upper torso, local officials said.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said the family hadn’t “been permitted to see him and have not received a meaningful update regarding his current status or circumstances. Our immediate concern is ensuring that his family receives accurate and timely information and that appropriate access and communication are provided while the matter is being addressed.”

The scene of the shooting at times became intense. Dozens of Austin police officers were at the scene near Research Boulevard and Anderson Square. Just before 6 p.m., officers shot pepper ball-like projectiles at the crowd after some demonstrators threw rocks and water bottles at law enforcement as some were readying to leave the area. 

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said at a news conference earlier in the day that he wants an independent investigation into the shooting, in part, because of the “chaos” we see it causing.

Even though Austin police were not involved in the operation that led to the shooting, he said it is important that the city’s residents know what happened and why. 

Watson said he is “angry” but “not surprised at all” that an ICE agent has shot someone in the city, especially since immigration operations have picked up in the past few weeks.

Austin police and Texas Rangers plan to investigate the shooting along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency that oversees immigration enforcement, Davis said.

“If there’s nothing wrong with that, they should welcome an investigation. And if you’re pro law enforcement, you should see that an investigation that is done right will only enhance credibility,“ the mayor said. “Austinites should know the truth, and I am pleased that we’re in a situation where Austin will also be involved in this investigation.”

Officials from the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, led by José Garza, said they want to review the evidence Austin police gathers as part of its investigation.

“We further request cooperation from the federal government in giving us access to the evidence. As has occurred in other jurisdictions, it is possible that this incident included violations of state law,” the office’s statement reads.

Sheridan Nolen, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said state troopers received a call at around 12:50 p.m. from ICE officials asking for help in a pursuit of a blue Toyota Corolla. Before troopers arrived, the ICE agent had shot the man, Nolen said. 

“Once they arrived, DPS Troopers immediately began assisting partner law enforcement agencies in performing medical treatment on the driver of the Toyota Corolla,” Nolen said.

Dozens of demonstrators remained at the North Austin scene into the evening, some carrying signs and flags, shouting expletives about ICE and police.

David Torres, 24, learned of the shooting through connections from a community group he runs, Dare to Struggle. He showed up about 2:30 p.m. and planned to stay as long as there was a crowd. 

“As long as these deportations continue, more and more people will be tortured behind walls and killed on the streets,” he said.

Trump’s administration has increased its immigration enforcement operations across the country, including Texas, a state with one of the largest immigration populations. A quarter of the half of million migrants the Trump administration has arrested and seeking to deport are from Texas.

It’s unclear when or under what immigration program the man injured Sunday may have entered the country. But under the Biden administration, the DHS had created pathways for some immigrants, including Venezuelans, to enter the U.S. legally. 

Many Venezuelans had entered the U.S. using the CBP One cellphone application that required people to make an appointment to meet an immigration official at a port of entry at the border. Others entered under a parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, which allowed people to apply from their home country. If they passed a criminal background check and could prove they would be financially stable they would be allowed to enter the U.S. Through either program, the person was allowed to apply for a work permit. Many Venezuelans who applied moved to Texas.

On his first day back in office, President Trump scrapped the programs and classified migrants in those programs as “illegal aliens” as part of his mass deportation efforts. Advocacy groups have sued the Trump administration over the moves arguing that the White House didn’t follow standard procedure to cancel the programs the right way and that the Biden administration had the legal right to parole immigrants into the country as stated in immigration law. The lawsuits are pending.  

The administration’s increased immigration enforcement has led to ICE agents fatally shooting other people across the country, including in Texas. The enforcement has also led to deaths of immigrants in immigrant detention centers. 

Immigration agents in January fatally shot 37-year-old Renée Good and 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis during separate protests against immigration enforcement operations. 

In March 2025, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot by an ICE agent in South Padre Island after officers said he “bumped” them with his car. The death of Martinez, who was born and raised in San Antonio, is the first known killing of an American by immigration agents under Trump’s second administration.

This summer, an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7. His family said Araujo was on his way to work and may have feared he was being robbed. Investigations into that killing are ongoing. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, who also at Sunday’s news conference, said he supported outside agencies investigating the shooting because “ICE has not been truthful in shootings in other cities.”

“It is appropriate for this community to ask for independence, to ask for transparency, and to ask for accountability,” he said. “This is a pattern. It’s a disturbing pattern, and it’s got to stop.”

This is a developing story and will be updated frequently.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.