DOJ brings rare charge against ICE agent for lying about Minnesota shooting

Sunday’s Austin shooting adds pressure as ICE faces mounting scrutiny

The US Department of Justice charged an ICE agent earlier this month with lying about the non-fatal shooting of a Venezuelan migrant in Minnesota — a rare instance in which the current Justice Department accused a federal agent of breaking the law on the job, according to the BBC.

The charge came as ICE faced intense scrutiny after a string of deadly encounters. In July, an ICE officer fatally shot Houston resident Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during an ICE traffic stop; Salgado Araujo had not been a target of an ICE investigation, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

On Sunday, an ICE agent shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash delivery driver, in the torso in Austin, Texas, his attorney told US media. Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told CBS that Garces Perez called his wife while “yelling in pain” from the hospital. Lincoln-Goldfinch told National Public Radio that he was in ICE custody. The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement to the BBC, said it was investigating the shooting of a man in Austin who “entered the country illegally.” It remained unclear what led to the shooting, the BBC reported.

The incident occurred just before 1300 local time on Sunday, according to local television coverage cited by the BBC. Dozens of protesters gathered at the scene, some waving the flags of Mexico and Guatemala and carrying signs demanding that ICE leave Austin. Local television outlets showed demonstrators across the street from a blue Toyota Corolla that sustained damage to the passenger-side door while ICE agents stood nearby, Reuters news agency reported.

Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, told reporters on Sunday that Austinites had a right to know what happened and “a right to feel safe in their city.” “They should know the truth,” Watson said, adding that he was pleased the city would also be involved in the investigation. Watson said ICE operations have surged in Austin in recent weeks.

Texas Congressman Greg Casar, a Democrat, demanded a “full and immediate independent investigation” into the shooting and the release of body camera footage. Casar also called for “accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”

Democrats have demanded reforms at the agency, including requiring immigration enforcement agents to wear body cameras and not conceal their faces, the BBC reported.

Activists have said the Trump administration has violated due process as it carries out the crackdown, the BBC reported. The Trump administration has defended its policies and ICE’s tactics as necessary for public safety and to fulfill President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to secure the border and carry out mass deportations, according to the BBC. Arrests have increased during Trump’s second term, the BBC reported, sparking unrest in several US cities.

Earlier this week, Florida lawmaker Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican who has spoken out against the immigration crackdown, released an advertisement criticizing the targeting and detention of individuals who have no criminal record, the BBC reported. Salazar appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday and said she had since spoken to Trump and believed he would keep the country on the right track. “He gets it more than anybody,” she said.