White House border czar Tom Homan said in an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times that a Venezuelan illegal immigrant attempted to evade arrest before he was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20.
“We were trying to arrest him in deportment,” Homan told The Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek in an “American Thought Leaders” interview airing on Sept. 26. “He fled. We had lights and sirens. … And, you know, he was shot.”
Wilber Rafael Garcés Perez, who had a final order from a judge to be deported, was taken to a hospital in stable condition after the shooting.
Perez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said that he was making a DoorDash delivery when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice. She said that after he was hospitalized, he was released into ICE custody with a bullet still lodged in his back.
Days after Perez’s arrest, his deportation was temporarily blocked by a federal judge as the court considers his attorney’s request for emergency relief in a hearing set for Sept. 30.
Homan also denounced Democratic Party lawmakers who have criticized the work of ICE agents and called to abolish the agency.
In response to the Perez shooting, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) commented on social media and accused ICE officers of “terrorizing our country,” demanded an independent investigation into the shooting, and asked for “immediate release of the body camera footage, and accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”
Homan, who ran ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations from 2013 under Obama and was acting ICE director in Trump’s first term, said the hostility toward the agency from elected officials needs to stop.
“I blame a lot of this on the hateful rhetoric being pushed by not only mayors and governors but members of Congress, and you know, and I’ll keep calling that out,” Homan added.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and Mayor Kirk Watson watch as footage from a body camera is played during a news conference at the Austin Public Safety Headquarters on Sept. 22, 2026, providing an update after an ICE agent shot and wounded a man Sunday. (Sara Diggins/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
The Epoch Times contacted House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for comment.
“It’s unfortunate,” Homan said. “I don’t want to see anybody hurt. I don’t want to see the officers hurt. I don’t want to see the alien targets hurt. I just want to enforce the law. But until this hateful rhetoric stops, it isn’t over when it comes to violence.”
Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
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