After an Austin resident was shot and detained by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Sunday, members of the local Hispanic community say they are afraid to go out on the street. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan citizen, remains in custody in a detention center in South Texas as of Monday evening.
KUT News has chosen to only use the community members' first names due to their fear of professional or legal consequences for speaking publicly.
A community member named Carlos, who has a business close to where the shooting took place near Anderson Square and U.S 183 in North Austin, said he spoke to both the ICE agent and Garces Perez, who was shot in the back.
"I told [the officer], 'What's happening here is un-American. The American community is respectful,'" Carlos said in Spanish. "The American respects and will take care of you. And they are injecting fear and insecurity to the people, and not just Latinos but everyone."
María, who works at a Central American restaurant a couple of blocks away from the incident, said the business had to close early on Sunday night because of the chaos that came after the shooting. María said what happened Sunday is exactly what the immigrant and Hispanic community fears.
"People's fear is that ... they always use violence in the way they detain people. That's what people fear," María said in Spanish. "Nobody wants to get back to their country in a coffin."
She said that, even though she is a resident, she's also afraid because she has friends who were residents and were deported. In the last few months, she's been too scared to go out, even to walk her dogs, because of immigration enforcement.
Local residents consider leaving
Both María and Carlos said business has been slow in the last year. María said sales in the restaurant are down about 60%. She said the recent shooting will create even more fear and increase the number of people who are voluntarily leaving the country.
"I think most people are thinking seriously about leaving," María said. "I have a friend from Venezuela who just left, too. He self-deported. Can you imagine?"
María said she came to the U.S. when she was 10 years old, and grew up in Austin. She said she's always wanted to live in Austin because of how calm it is, but she's now also considering leaving the country.
"Imagine, you can't even call the police," María said. "You can't trust the police because ... what if you're affected?"
The Austin Police Department changed its rules on how it interacts with ICE in April, following threats from Gov. Greg Abbott's office. Under the new rules, it is recommended, not mandatory, to contact a supervisor before reaching out to ICE.
Concerns about ICE activity grow
Reports of Garces Perez's detainment inundated social media starting Sunday afternoon. People quickly took to the streets to protest the shooting and detention of the 28 year old.
Anderly, a Honduran who has a pending asylum case, said she saw the reports online, but was unsure where in the city it had happened. She said she rarely goes out these days, but on Monday morning she found herself in the area of the shooting because she had to deliver paperwork to get a passport for her child, who is a U.S. citizen.
"I have a 4-month-old baby," Anderly said. "I'll go out, but I think about whether I'll return or not, if [ICE] will leave her here, if they'll take her away. You don't know if you'll return home."
The anxiety also extends to her partner's safety, who doesn't have another option but to go out and work remodeling houses.
"I stay at home at the moment," she said in Spanish. "I get home, and I'm indoors, and nothing happens to me. But for him, he's out on the streets working, and that worries me more."
Anderly said the current immigration enforcement strategy is going beyond the limits of what is reasonable, because the number of people being detained and hurt keeps going up.
"It used to be more calm. They would detain people and take them away, but now they are trespassing certain limits," she said. "Because shooting someone is inhumane, it really is."
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, released a statement condemning ICE activity. "While we do not yet have all of the facts about today's alarming shooting, we do have the facts about ICE, which has recently accelerated its intrusion into our community," he said. "Our lack of facts results from ICE secrecy and non-responsiveness. ... ICE is eager to fulfill a deportation quota by rounding up any immigrant that it can find, including those who are making a real contribution to our community."
Protesters and police clashed Sunday afternoon following the shooting. Protests are set to continue into their second day, Monday, with an event scheduled at the Texas Capitol for 8 p.m.
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