"I've seen enough to know this is a crime. ... To me it's an open and shut criminal prosecution, attempted murder." — Mike Siegel, Austin City Council (D7), speaking with ICE Watch correspondent Roxana Rojas. Follow Deceleration on YouTube.
Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel (D7) was the first elected official on the scene last Sunday after the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez by an ICE agent. One of his first responses was to start collecting evidence for local prosecutors. So far, however, the feds have shown no willingness to cooperate on an investigation, he told Deceleration.
So how can a city push back on ICE and help end the rampant violence and abuse the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the nation? Siegel told Deceleration in a Friday interview that the City of Austin needs to correct what he described as a recent decision to "over comply" with federal law when it comes to cooperating with ICE.
Dialing back this cooperation requires “ending cooperation on administrative warrants,” Siegel said.
“Because these are not validated documents. They haven't been reviewed by a judge. We don't know if it's good information. And under federal immigration law, city police are not required to support these administrative warrants.”
While the shooter’s identity has not been released, the person who shot Garcés Pérez is known in the local community, Siegel said.
"He is diminutive in stature. He apparently goes around like a cowboy. He holds his gun sideways when he points it at people like he’s in a some kind of a movie.”
Full interview is above.
At noon on Wednesday, September 30, Garcés Pérez will appear before federal district judge Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio to decide whether or not he can be deported by the federal government.
Protests have been called for Sunday, Sept. 27, in both Austin and San Antonio, where activists are calling for justice for Garcés Pérez and an end to ICE operations in their cities and state.
