More than 300 Beaumont residents gathered in the city’s Rogers Park Sunday evening for ICE Out Beaumont, an event held following the shooting of Garcés Perez early Sunday afternoon. The event was organized in the Facebook group “All Eyes on ICE” Southeast Texas. Residents appeared at the park around 5 p.m. CT Sunday night, per Fox 4 in Beaumont, then dispersed after 8 p.m.
“Please, if you can, make space to join us this Sunday at 5:00 PM at the peaceful ICE OUT Beaumont protest, at Rogers Park Community Center,” All Eyes on ICE wrote in a Facebook post announcing the event. “Do it for their families. For their friends. For our community. For all those people who are afraid to speak.”
Beaumont Police monitored Sunday’s protest, but did not make any arrests. The department released a statement Sunday, in which they said they do not collaborate with ICE on federal immigration actions.
“The Beaumont Police Department’s primary responsibility is to protect public safety, respond to calls for service, investigate crimes, and enforce applicable state and local laws,” Beaumont PD wrote. “Federal immigration enforcement is primarily the responsibility of federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Federal agencies may conduct operations within Beaumont independently, and their presence does not mean that BPD is participating in those operations. BPD cooperates with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners when appropriate and in accordance with applicable laws and department policies.”
Garcés Perez, 28, is a Venezuelan asylum seeker who works as a DoorDash driver in Austin. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Garcés Perez is currently hospitalized at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin, and he will enter federal custody upon his release.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garcés Perez’s attorney, says Garcés Perez’s attorney is married to a legal United States resident. Garcés Perez’s wife was barred Sunday from visiting him in the hospital, and she yet to be updated on Garcés Perez’s medical status as of Monday morning.
“We not only were lied to and told that he wasn’t there, but we were thrown off the hospital grounds by several officers who treated us as trespassers,” Lincoln-Goldfinch told NBC News on Sunday. “We are deeply concerned that his wife and family have not been permitted to see him and have not received a meaningful update regarding his current condition or whereabouts.”
Protestors gathered in North Austin at the site of Sunday’s shooting, as well as downtown near the Texas Capitol. The Texas Department of Public Safety deployed troopers to Sunday’s protest, during which tear gas and rubber bullets were deployed.
Sunday’s shooting marked the second ICE-related shooting in Texas this year. ICE officers shot and killed Houston resident Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in July, leading to sizable protests across the city.