An immigration enforcement shooting occurred in Austin, Texas, on Sunday (September 20), when 28-year-old Venezuelan man Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Although the bullet remains lodged in his back, he has already been discharged from the hospital and sent to an ICE detention facility. After the incident, large numbers of anti-ICE protesters quickly gathered, demanding accountability for the officers involved; Fox News, however, found that some of the protest activity was mobilized and promoted through existing networks by multiple socialist and communist groups.
Perez’s immigration attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Perez was delivering food for DoorDash in Austin when ICE personnel driving an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice. Perez stated that before ramming his car, the ICE agents did not order him to stop or activate their flashing lights as a warning. When he turned around and prepared to pull over, the ICE agents struck his car again and then shot him in the back of the neck.
After the shooting, Perez was taken to a hospital for treatment but was discharged by the hospital that same night and then handed directly over to ICE custody. Speaking by phone at a press conference on Monday (the 21st), Perez said doctors did not remove the bullet still in his body because of its location near his spine.
Perez said that after being taken to the detention center, he initially received no painkillers and no further treatment, and even slept on the floor, until Monday when a nurse finally gave him a single “pill.”
Speaking in Spanish by phone at the press conference, he said, “Because of the gunshot wound, I’m in a very bad condition right now, and I have not received the medical care I need.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch noted that Perez is currently being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas. She also said Perez had previously told her by phone that he was being interrogated.
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The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Monday that it is investigating the incident in which an ICE agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man, adding that the man was in the United States illegally and had received a “final order of removal.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch responded that Perez entered the United States legally in 2024 through the CBP One program. The program, implemented during the Biden administration, allowed migrants to schedule appointments to meet with U.S. government officials for asylum eligibility screening; President Donald Trump terminated the program on his first day back in the White House.
His legal team said Perez is an asylum seeker with a valid work permit. He was later issued a removal order by a judge because he missed an immigration court hearing, as the hearing notice had been sent to his old address.
Lincoln-Goldfinch also stated on social media that even if Perez’s immigration status had truly lapsed, that would not be enough to justify the shooting itself.
Anti-ICE Protests Erupt Within Hours of the Shooting
Anti-ICE protests soon broke out in Austin. Local media reported that large numbers of demonstrators gathered near the shooting scene, chanting anti-ICE slogans, with some waving Mexican flags and others confronting police.
Fox News’ investigation found that the protest was not merely a spontaneous gathering of residents; multiple socialist and communist groups with established organizational structures promoted the event and called on supporters to come to the scene through national and Texas local social media platforms within hours of the incident.
Groups named include the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
The report noted that the PSL has close ties with several nonprofit organizations funded by Neville Roy Singham, a U.S.-born tech tycoon who now lives in Shanghai. Members of Congress are currently investigating whether his affiliated organizations have used political activities such as anti-ICE protests to deepen social division and an image of “chaos” in the United States.
