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A series of fatal shootings and deaths in federal custody has put renewed focus on the Trump administration’s expanding immigration operation, including the use of force, detention conditions and the handling of investigations.
The latest case involves Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 20.
Federal prosecutors however charged Perez on Sept. 29 with assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer. A detention hearing has been set for Oct. 2.
Perez disputes elements of the government's account and remains in detention with a bullet lodged in his back, according to his lawyer.
Immigration agents have fired on people in at least 31 incidents since Trump launched his immigration crackdown last year, according to US gun violence tracker The Trace.
Nine people were killed and 15 injured.
The nonprofit also documented another 49 incidents in which agents held bystanders, protesters or others at gunpoint under what it described as “questionable circumstances.”
Deaths in detention have added to the scrutiny. Between Jan. 23, 2025, and Aug. 23, 2026, federal records indicate 56 people died in ICE custody.
Here is a look at some of the shootings, deaths in custody and efforts to hold those responsible accountable.
Delivery driver Perez, 28, was shot during a traffic stop involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Sept. 20 while working for DoorDash.
He said officers in unmarked vehicles struck his car and opened fire as he attempted to pull over.
His lawyer told Texas Public Radio that he had a broken collarbone and difficulty moving.
Federal authorities said the Venezuelan national had a final deportation order and was trying to evade arrest.
Austin police released footage showing its aftermath, but the recording did not establish why the officer opened fire. Local and state authorities are investigating.
Travis County prosecutors as well as a group of lawmakers have asked federal authorities to halt his removal, saying his presence could be needed for an investigation and possible prosecution.
"Garces Perez is a key witness to this shooting, and given ICE's history of obscuring the facts in similar investigations, he must not be removed," a letter from more than 100 lawmakers said.
An ICE officer fatally shot Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, during a vehicle encounter in Biddeford on July 13, 2026.
Guerrero worked as a food delivery driver and cleaner and had a 3-year-old daughter. He was not the person agents had initially been seeking, according to local reporting.
Authorities said the officer fired while “fearing for public safety,” but released few details about the encounter. The shooting prompted protests and an investigation by the Maine attorney general’s office.
US Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Maine Democrat, said Guerrero had a pending asylum application and a valid work permit. She demanded answers from the Department of Homeland Security about his death and expressed concern about a lack of video footage.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national and father of three US citizens, was driving his construction crew to a job when an ICE officer fatally shot him on July 7, 2026.
He had lived in the US for nearly 35 years, according to an account entered into the Congressional Record.
Federal authorities said Araujo tried to strike an officer with his van.
Passengers challenged that account, saying unmarked vehicles rammed the van and that it had stopped before the shooting, The Texas Tribune reported. Their statements placed officers beside the vehicle when shots were fired.
His family called for an independent investigation.
Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital, was fatally shot by federal immigration personnel on Jan. 24, 2026.
Colleagues remembered him for his care for seriously ill veterans. His death brought nurses and other health workers to a vigil near the scene.
Federal officials initially portrayed Pretti as an armed threat. Video showed him recording events with his phone and intervening as officers confronted a woman before he was wrestled to the ground and shot.
The footage challenged the government’s account and intensified demands for an independent investigation.
Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three, was fatally shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, 2026.
Good was a writer who had studied English at Old Dominion University, which issued a statement mourning her death.
She was in her car when the officer opened fire. Federal officials said she tried to run him over and that he acted in self-defense.
Witnesses and local officials challenged that account. Her death sparked protests against the immigration operation in Minneapolis, less than three weeks before Pretti was killed.
Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican cook and father of two, was fatally shot during an ICE traffic stop near Chicago on Sept. 12, 2025.
He had dropped off his children that morning. His death spread fear among other parents in the school community, WBEZ reported.
Homeland Security said an officer suffered serious injuries after being dragged by his vehicle.
But the Chicago Sun-Times later reported that the officer described his injuries afterward as “nothing major,” raising questions about the official account.
Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old US citizen, was visiting South Padre Island with friends to celebrate his birthday when a federal immigration agent fatally shot him multiple times on March 15, 2025.
Homeland Security Investigations agents were helping local police direct traffic around an accident. Authorities said Martinez “intentionally” ran over an agent who was sent to hospital for a knee injury, a claim disputed by a passenger, according to The Texas Tribune.
Video released later raised questions about the encounter and the instructions Martinez received before he was shot.
A Texas grand jury declined to issue indictments in February. His family’s lawyers called for the full investigative findings to be made public.
Official ICE records show that 56 people have died in ICE custody since 2025. Last year’s tally of 33 detainee deaths was the highest in more than two decades, according to the The National Immigration Project.
Records describe deaths involving heart failure, other medical emergencies and suspected suicides. Several causes remain under investigation.
The latest reported death was Lianyong Wei, a 51-year-old Chinese national, who was found dead August 23, the day after he was placed into ICE custody. The death certificate said his manner of death was suicide.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, 41, died Aug. 1 after collapsing at Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey following complaints of dizziness and high blood pressure. Medical staff performed CPR and used a defibrillator before he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead
Lopez-Cornejo, the father of a 12-year-old U.S. citizen daughter, had epilepsy, hypertension and diabetes.
His family said he depended on several medications and alleged that detention staff failed to properly administer them or adequately monitor his condition before his death, according to NBC.
Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban national, died at Camp East Montana in Texas on Jan. 3.
The El Paso County medical examiner ruled his death a homicide caused by pressure on his neck and torso that prevented him from breathing.
ICE's initial account of the death included no mention of an altercation with guards, according to PBS.
Witnesses said guards choked him as he said he could not breathe, according to the National Immigration Project.
A medical finding of homicide establishes that another person caused the death; it does not itself determine criminal guilt.
His was one of at least three deaths reported in just over a month at the tent facility, which stands on the grounds of Fort Bliss in Texas.
Deaths in custody also include victims of an outside attack.
A gunman on a nearby rooftop shot three detainees at an ICE facility in Dallas on Sept. 24, 2025. Norlan Guzman-Fuentes died at the scene, and Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez later died from his injuries.
The gunman was not an immigration officer.
One shooting has led to both state and federal charges against an ICE officer in what The Washington Post described as an "unprecedented step.”
Christian Castro faces Minnesota assault and false-reporting charges over the January shooting of Venezuelan national Julio Sosa-Celis. Prosecutors allege he fired through a home’s door and falsely claimed he had been attacked.
Castro also faces federal charges of lying to investigators. He was arrested in Minneapolis in September, later released from state custody and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
However, The Washington Post added that federal authorities have taken “few visible steps” to investigate the other shootings.
“We don’t just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody putting his life in danger,” then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Fox News in January after the Minneapolis shootings.
Minnesota prosecutors are investigating the killings of Good and Pretti. Federal authorities handed over evidence in July after months of disputes over access.
Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants and protesters demonstrating against ICE have been charged with assaulting federal agents, according to The Washington Post.
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