Evan Hunt calls for ICE investigation after Austin shooting

Evan Hunt Calls for ICE Investigation After Austin Shooting, Questions Oversight

By R.J. Morales | TX3DNews

Democratic TX-03 nominee Evan Hunt is calling for an independent investigation after an ICE officer shot a DoorDash driver in Austin, days after Hunt also criticized agents over an encounter involving two Texas teenagers.

In a campaign email Monday, Hunt called ICE a “rogue agency,” said Congress should “rein in ICE” and criticized Republican U.S. Rep. Keith Self over his support for the agency. “There must be a full investigation into every one of these incidents, and accountability for the abuses and the coverups alike,” Hunt wrote.

The attorney for 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez told CNN Monday that he had since lost movement on the left side of his body and could be facing paralysis.

Austin shooting and medical concerns

An ICE officer shot Garces Perez Sunday afternoon during an immigration operation in North Austin. DHS says the Venezuelan national has a final order of removal. His attorneys say he entered through the CBP One process in 2024, applied for asylum and received authorization to work.

His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, told CNN that Garces Perez was making DoorDash deliveries when an unmarked vehicle carrying federal agents sideswiped his car. She said he initially thought it was an aggressive driver before realizing they were agents.

“He tried to pull over and they rammed his vehicle again and then shot him in the back of the neck,” Lincoln-Goldfinch told CNN.

She also disputed an initial account from Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis that there had been a “small foot pursuit,” saying Garces Perez never left his vehicle. DHS has not publicly explained what prompted the officer to fire.

Lincoln-Goldfinch told CNN that Garces Perez spent about four hours in the hospital before being transferred to ICE custody with a bullet still lodged near his spine. She said he was bleeding and had been transferred without pain medication.

A staff member from U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro’s office later visited Garces Perez and reported that he had lost movement on the left side of his body, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch.

“He is facing paralysis,” she told CNN.

DHS previously said Garces Perez was in stable condition and has not publicly addressed the subsequent claims about paralysis or his treatment in custody.

Two teenagers detained days earlier

Hunt had raised concerns about ICE before the Austin shooting.

In a Facebook post, he wrote about a Sept. 11 encounter in Alamo involving two 17-year-olds who said they stopped to record an immigration enforcement operation.

Video from the encounter shows an agent repeatedly striking one teenager while he was on the ground. The other teenager said he was pepper-sprayed.

DHS has said the teenagers interfered with an enforcement operation and resisted arrest.

“Maybe these kids mouthed off. Maybe they didn’t. I don’t care. They’re 17,” Hunt wrote.

Hunt said that even if the teenagers interfered with agents, they could have been detained and charged.

“But you don’t get to beat a kid in the head while he’s pinned to the ground,” he wrote.

He also argued that criticism of ICE’s conduct should not be confused with opposition to enforcing immigration laws.

“Being tough on illegal immigration doesn’t require accepting brutality from federal agents in our streets,” Hunt wrote.

Hunt cited former ICE attorney and academy instructor Ryan Schwank, who testified earlier this year that ICE had shortened its training program and eliminated portions of legal and use-of-force instruction.

ICE has disputed Schwank’s account, saying officers continue to receive training involving firearms, de-escalation and constitutional protections.

Hunt takes aim at Self

After the Austin shooting, Hunt went further.

In Monday’s campaign email, he pointed to the Austin and Alamo incidents along with previous shootings involving immigration agents in Texas.

The Austin shooting was at least the third involving an ICE agent in Texas since March 2025, following fatal shootings in South Padre Island and Houston, according to reporting by The Texas Tribune.

Hunt also directly criticized Self.

“This violent machine runs on total impunity, because bigoted men like Keith Self shield it in Washington while Greg Abbott runs interference in Austin,” Hunt wrote.

Hunt said a Democratic majority should investigate the incidents and pursue accountability for unlawful conduct.

His email did not explain exactly what “rein in ICE” would mean in legislation or whether he is proposing changes to the agency’s funding, enforcement authority, training or use-of-force policies.

Editor’s note: TX3DNews contacted both the Hunt and Self campaigns for comment and additional questions. Neither had responded by publication.