A few dozen protesters gathered outside San Antonio City Hall on Friday, calling on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to pull out of Austin following the September 20 shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national in the country illegally.
The demonstration, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), drew little notice from tourists visiting the nearby Alamo. Organizers billed the rally as a call for justice for Garces-Perez, who they say was shot by ICE while working as a DoorDash delivery driver.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has said Garces-Perez entered the country illegally during the Biden administration’s border crisis and was shot by an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer in Austin near the 7000 block of West Anderson Lane after he attempted to flee during a targeted law enforcement operation. He received emergency medical treatment and was then placed in ICE detention in Pearsall, Texas.
Protesters at Friday’s rally carried signs demanding ICE leave the city and criticizing the agency’s plans to convert a large commercial warehouse on San Antonio’s east side into a detention facility. ICE has awarded a contract worth more than $17 million to GardaWorld Federal Services to renovate the site for that purpose.
Some in the crowd wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and led chants against ICE. Several signs read “Jail All Killer ICE Agents.”
The PSL is planning a second protest in Austin on Sunday, marking one week since the shooting, near the site where it occurred and where earlier demonstrations have taken place.
A previous, spontaneous protest at the Austin shooting scene included activists spray-painting threatening graffiti on overpass support pilings, with messages threatening to kill President Donald Trump and ICE agents. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responded to that scene and stayed until the crowd dispersed.
