ICE shooting in Texas leaves man seriously injured; officials demand independent investigation and transparency
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "ICE shooting in Texas leaves man seriously injured; officials demand independent investigation and transparency")
ICE agent shoots man in Texas Photograph: (AFP)
An ICE agent shot a man in Austin, Texas, leaving him seriously but stably injured and prompting officials to demand an independent probe
A man was hospitalised in Austin, Texas, on Sunday (September 20) after being shot in the torso by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, according to local officials. The incident has prompted calls for a broader investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting. The man was in serious but stable condition after suffering a gunshot wound during an incident that officials said may have involved a foot pursuit. Authorities stressed that the information available remained preliminary.
"I am very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot on the streets of Austin by ICE," Mayor Kirk Watson said on X, referring to the federal agency carrying out the Trump administration's immigration enforcement campaign. Watson said Austin had experienced a 'significant increase, almost overnight' in ICE operations. The shooting occurred in North Austin following a traffic stop, according to officials. Austin police were not involved in the operation or shooting, although local investigators responded to the scene. Authorities said they had limited information about the events leading up to the shooting.
ICE had not publicly provided details about the incident at the time of the officials' statements. Authorities also initially withheld information about the wounded man's identity, age and nationality. Watson called for Austin police and other local authorities to participate in the investigation, saying an inquiry conducted solely by ICE would not provide sufficient outside oversight. "I will say, frankly, from my perspective, the credibility of ICE doing some form of investigation just by itself and excluding others would not be appropriate," Watson said.
Congressman Greg Casar also called for transparency and an independent investigation. He referred to previous controversies involving ICE shootings, including the January shooting of Renee Goode in Minneapolis, where officials' initial accounts were later challenged by video evidence. "It is awful that this horror has come to our doorstep," Casar said. "A few weeks ago as we saw the ICE surge come ... I and others said that ICE needed to leave before someone was shot."
The Austin shooting comes amid an expanded immigration enforcement campaign under President Donald Trump. ICE operations have increased across the United States as the administration pursues its pledge to increase deportations and reduce illegal immigration. Federal data cited by officials showed that immigration arrests reached more than 50,000 per month during the summer, adding to scrutiny of ICE's enforcement tactics.
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The Austin incident also follows several other shootings involving federal immigration officers in 2026, including cases in Texas, Minnesota and Maine. Those incidents have generated calls from local officials and advocacy groups for greater transparency and independent investigations. As of the latest reports, authorities had not released a full account of what led to the shooting in Austin. The investigation remains ongoing.
