A party considered by many to be communist sponsored a protest in Austin on Sunday to remember the arrest of a Venezuelan national who was shot before capture the previous weekend and is still in custody.<\/p>\n
A protest that began in the early afternoon on the city’s north side was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is known for putting together public demonstrations that falsely call themselves “grassroots” and spontaneous protests.<\/p>\n
The party was formed 22 years ago when it split off from the avowed communist Workers World Party, continuing the belief that a revolution is the only way capitalism can be dismantled and a socialist state be established to replace it.<\/p>\n
The immigrant, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was a Door Dash driver who was spotted by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last Sunday afternoon in North Austin, but when agents approached he appeared to be trying to elude them, so they shot, hitting Perez in the back. <\/p>\n
The ICE agents reportedly had a deportation order to serve on him, to be followed by Perez’s arrest, as normal procedure.<\/p>\n
He immediately received medical attention and was then arrested, but by Tuesday he had a local lawyer who was granted an emergency order by an Austin area judge to temporarily block a deportation of the 28-year-old delivery driver. <\/p>\n
He’s been in a detention center in the city of Pearsall, southwest of San Antonio, since Monday, and remains under medical treatment since surgeons have not yet removed a bullet fired by an ICE agent that remains lodged close to Perez’s spine.<\/p>\n