AUSTIN, Texas — Slightly more than 100 protesters returned to the scene of last Sunday’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer-involved shooting of a 28-year-old Venezuelan national who the agency alleges is illegally in the United States and had a final order of removal. The protest, organized by the Austin Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), featured several activist speakers who shouted anti-ICE chants to the crowd.
Breitbart Texas observed the event as organizers delivered speeches from the bed of a pickup truck late Sunday afternoon, while passing motorists honked their horns in support. The Austin Chapter of the PSL organized the protest, which follows a similar protest held in San Antonio on Friday.
Speakers at Sunday’s protest alleged Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez was shot in the back by ICE as he was delivering food as a DoorDash delivery driver. As Breitbart Texas’s Bob Price reported, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials allege Garces-Perez was in an illegal immigration status after having entered the United States illegally during the Biden Border Crisis.
Activists Reoccupy ICE Shooting Scene in Austin One Week Later
(Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
According to DHS, Garces-Perez was shot by an ICE officer in Austin on September 20, after he attempted to flee from an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer during a targeted law enforcement operation near the 7000 block of West Anderson Lane. After being provided emergency medical treatment, Garces-Perez was placed in an ICE detention center in Pearsall, Texas.
DHS issued a statement shortly after the shooting rebutting false information circulated in the immediate aftermath of the shooting that included a warning to the public that read:
Resisting officers and evading arrest is dangerous for our officers, illegal aliens, and the public. We remind the public that resisting officers and evading arrest is a felony and a federal crime. Sanctuary politicians need to stop encouraging this dangerous behavior that puts our officers and the public at risk.
One protester spoke out against the Austin Police Department, alleging the officers were complicit in the operation carried out one week ago. The speaker asserted the city’s police officers played a larger role in the incident, saying:
There is no denying the collaboration between APD and ICE, as it was APD that handcuffed Wilber and carried him away. There is no such thing as an impartial investigation by APD. We see with our own eyes. They are just as complicit in this violence and terror.
The attendees at Sunday’s protest, just feet away from the scene of last week’s ICE shooting, carried signs, some with violent and vulgar messages aimed at ICE agents and the Border Patrol. One activist who wore front and back ballistic plates under a tank top shirt carried a sign that read “SHOOT ICE BACK! CHINGA LA MIGRA”.
Graffiti remained on the overpass pillars one week after the shooting that included threats to kill President Donald Trump and ICE agents. A makeshift tribute was crudely constructed at the foot of one support pillar bearing signs showing support for Garces-Perez and calling for ICE to leave the state of Texas. Candles and flowers have been left behind and now sit on a small table at the site.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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