Tracking ICE shootings, migrant deaths in Texas since 2025
www.texastribune.org
Most migrant deaths in Texas have occurred while they were detained since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown. Several were from natural causes.

Under President Donald Trump’s second administration, encounters with federal immigration agents have resulted in several shootings and more than a dozen people dying while in custody.

An adult man in north Austin was the latest to be shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Sunday, according to city officials. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was released from the hospital into federal custody by Sunday evening, according to his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.

This follows the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July and of American Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island in March 2025.

A crackdown on illegal immigration was a cornerstone of Trump’s 2024 campaign for reelection, which he claimed was fueling violent crime in the country. Since taking office again, he has embarked on mass deportation efforts and deployed thousands of ICE agents across the country.

The impact of Trump’s immigration enforcement has been particularly felt in Texas, which reportedly holds the most migrants of any state at its 23 detention facilities.

Since 2025, at least 14 people in ICE custody have died after being held in Texas detention sites, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of federal detainee death notifications and media reports.

Here’s what we know about ICE operations in Texas:

An ICE agent shot an adult man after a “small foot pursuit,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said during a news conference. Medical responders received a call shortly before 1 p.m. on Sept. 20 of a man with a single gunshot wound to the torso. The man was transported to the hospital.

During the press conference, officials said they did not yet know the nationality or name of the man. But Wilber Rafael Garces Perez’s lawyer later identified him as a 28-year-old from Venezuela and said he had a valid work permit and entered the U.S. legally.

Austin police and Texas Rangers plan to investigate the shooting along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Davis said. The Travis County District Attorney’s office requested to be “co-equal partners” in the investigation and access to evidence from the federal government, noting there could be “violations of state law”.