DHS now leading investigation into shooting involving ICE officer in Austin

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Monday its investigations unit is now leading the investigation into a shooting in Austin, Texas, over the weekend that involved a federal immigration officer.

The DHS said in a statement its Homeland Security Investigations agency is leading the probe into the incident.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in the Texas capital on Sunday shot Venezuelan national Wilber Rafael Garces Perez. The man, 28, “illegally entered” the U.S. during the Biden administration and “had a final order of removal” from an immigration judge, according to the department.

Garces Perez was shot in the torso, local authorities said. His condition as of early Monday was “stable,” per the DHS — which added he was “in federal custody pending removal.”

The shooting sparked protests in Austin, a city with a heavy concentration of Hispanics. Nationwide demonstrations also erupted earlier this year after federal immigration officers fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson (D) told reporters Sunday that the city’s police department should be involved in the investigation to provide “clear, third-party eyes,” according to The Associated Press .

City police officers were not involved in the operation or the shooting of Garces Perez, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis told reporters, the AP reported.

“ICE shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin. He’s been taken out of the hospital and into ICE custody,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), whose district includes part of Austin, wrote Sunday on the social platform X.

“If ICE deports him, the key witness to their shooting disappears,” Casar added. “He must not be removed from this country, and he must receive proper medical care.”