Man Shot By ICE Agent In Austin, Texas, Sparking Mayor's Ire

(Bloomberg) — The man who shot an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin, Texas on Sunday is in “stable but serious condition,” the latest incident related to the Trump administration’s aggressive push to deport undocumented people.

Austin Mayor Kirk Preston said at a news conference Sunday that the city had few details about what led to the shooting or the identity of the officer or the victim. Austin police were not involved in the incident, Chief Lisa Davis said.

“A person being shot on the streets of Austin by someone posing as law enforcement, especially when it’s ICE, is something that makes me unhappy and angry about that,” Preston said. “I’m not surprised at all.

The mayor called for local officials and city police to be involved in “any investigation into this event” to offer “clear third-party eyes.”

James Talarico, a Democrat running for a US Senate seat in Texas, said in a statement that he was closely following reports of the shooting and called for an independent investigation.

“Previous incidents have shown that this agency cannot be trusted to report all the facts,” said Talarico, who has emerged as the Democrats’ best chance in decades to win a Texas Senate seat. “We need a full, independent investigation that includes the release of all available records.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a social media post, Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, echoed the mayor’s call for a “full, independent investigation, immediate release of body camera footage, and accountability for every ICE officer who broke the law.”

The shooting comes two months after immigration officers shot and killed a man in Maine and another man in Houston less than a week apart. In January, federal immigration officials in Minneapolis killed two American citizens during a controversial immigration operation in the city.

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