A Democratic congressman is seeking explanations following claims that an ICE officer shot an individual during a Sunday operation in Austin, Texas. City officials will address what they termed an ‘Immigration and Customs Enforcement shooting’ at a news conference scheduled for 4 p.m. at Austin City Hall. Mayor Kirk Watson, Police Chief Lisa Davis, and Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz will discuss the incident.
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed that ICE is conducting an investigation on the 7000 block of West Anderson Lane. However, they did not specify if there were any injuries. ‘ICE investigation confirmed in the 7000 block of West Anderson, ICE is handling investigation,’ stated a DPS public information officer.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, alleged in a post on X that ‘ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning’ and demanded a full, independent inquiry along with the immediate release of body-camera footage. ‘Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened,’ Casar wrote. ‘We will demand truth, transparency and accountability.’
The Austin incident has intensified ongoing tensions surrounding federal immigration enforcement operations. In a related event, confrontations occurred outside a New Jersey detention center in May when protesters defied a state police order. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka later criticized the enforcement tactics.
Federal immigration operations have also been under national scrutiny following the fatal Minneapolis shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Good was killed in January by an ICE agent after allegedly attempting to run over officers, whereas Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent on January 24 while filming federal officers.
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