AUSTIN, Texas – Members of Congress, including Texas Reps. Greg Casar and Joaquin Castro, are taking a closer look at shootings involving federal immigration agents, including a recent shooting in North Austin that left a Venezuelan man wounded.
The hearing comes after the recent shooting of Wilber Garcés-Pérez in Austin, which has raised questions about federal immigration enforcement tactics and the use of body cameras.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who represents parts of the Austin and San Antonio areas, will join Democratic members of the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement for the field hearing.
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Lawmakers plan to examine shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal immigration officers, along with possible changes to enforcement procedures aimed at reducing violent encounters.
According to a Government Accountability Office report cited in the hearing announcement, Congress allocated $20 million this year for body cameras for federal immigration agents.
The report also noted that at least 25 people have been shot in incidents involving federal immigration officers, including six who died.
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According to court records, federal agents stopped Garcés Pérez after an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country. Prosecutors say Garcés Pérez ignored officers’ commands, rolled up his window and drove away, striking an officer with his side mirror. That led to a chase through nearby neighborhoods.
One ICE officer involved in the chase was wearing a body camera, but the officer who fired the shots was not. The body camera captured the initial stop and portions of the chase, but not the shooting.
According to court documents, the chase ended when an SUV struck Garcés Pérez’s vehicle. Prosecutors say he then tried to hit an officer with his car, prompting the officer to open fire. Garcés Pérez disputes that account. He told investigators an officer’s SUV struck his car first, spinning it around before he was shot.
He was taken to a hospital before being transferred to an ICE detention facility in Pearsall, southwest of San Antonio.
During a court hearing in Austin, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell found probable cause to charge Garcés Pérez with assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer. Howell also denied bond, citing the seriousness of the charge and previous missed court hearings.
Garcés Pérez appeared in court in a wheelchair, with one arm in a sling and a bullet still lodged in his back.
The shooting has renewed questions about the use of force by federal immigration agents and whether officers should be required to wear body cameras.
According to the Government Accountability Office, federal immigration agents have been involved in at least 25 shootings in Texas, including six that resulted in deaths. Congress approved $20 million this year for body cameras for immigration agents. However, ICE has rejected calls from lawmakers to require all agents to wear cameras that automatically activate during critical incidents.
DHS said body camera training is underway and expected to wrap up soon.
Castro and Casar are calling for independent investigations into shootings involving immigration officers, along with the release of all available body camera footage.
“ICE has become an abusive, rogue organization,” Castro said.
He also questioned whether federal investigators could conduct an impartial review.
“They said that Homeland Security was going to do a joint investigation with the FBI. Homeland Security, at this point, has zero credibility,” Castro said.
The Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit and the Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.
The congressional hearing in Austin is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and will be streamed on YouTube.