US immigration agency ICE officers shoot man

Austin incident

US immigration agency ICE officers shoot man

The ICE agency has been criticized for violent operations against migrants. Now shots are fired again – this time in a Texas city. The mayor calls for a transparent investigation.

Officers from the controversial US immigration agency ICE shot and killed a man in the Texas city of Austin. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, but his life was not in danger, said Mayor Kirk Watson. “I’m very angry about this,” Watson told reporters. Many details of the incident are still unclear. But Watson emphasized that it was unacceptable for officers from an agency that purports to maintain law and order to shoot people on the street. There was initially no statement from ICE.

A shot hit the man in the upper body area on Sunday, police said. It was initially unclear whether the bullet hit him from the front in the chest or from behind in the back. Photos from the crime scene suggest the man was in his car when the shots were fired.

Mayor Watson and Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis demanded that local police be involved in the investigation of the incident. An investigation by the federal agency ICE alone is prohibited for reasons of transparency, said Watson, a Democrat. ICE activity against migrants in his city has increased sharply this month.

At the scene of the incident there were spontaneous small protests against the actions of the federal authorities. MP Greg Casar, whose constituency is Austin, called for a “full, independent investigation” and immediate release of the videos from the body cameras of the emergency services involved. The ICE officer responsible must be held accountable. “ICE repeatedly shot people and then lied about what happened,” criticized the Democrat. “Horror has come to our city.”

US President Donald Trump Since taking office a good year and a half ago, he has taken a very tough course against migrants who have a criminal record or do not have a valid residence permit. The Republican calls for mass deportations and relies primarily on the increasingly controversial federal agency ICE, whose officers carry out raids and arrests.

The sometimes brutal operations of the authority, which has been massively strengthened by Trump, are having an impact USA met with a lot of criticism – this was the case at the beginning of the year, among other things, after the fatal shooting of two Americans in the state of Minnesota. The hardliner Gregory Bovino, who was responsible for the operations, then had to leave. Since then, officials have taken a somewhat less martial approach – but operations continue throughout the country.