FLEOA president Silverman says judgment on the Austin ICE shooting should wait for investigators
Matthew SilvermanNational President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, writing in an editorial
Matthew Silverman, National President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, wrote in a Law Enforcement Today editorial that the Austin case should not be decided through social media, political rhetoric or incomplete reporting. He said investigators should determine what happened and that the truth should emerge before judgment is rendered.
“We should not decide the Austin case through social media, political rhetoric, or incomplete reporting. We should allow investigators to determine what happened, release the facts as legally appropriate, and hold everyone involved to the same standard. The public deserves transparency. The injured individual deserves due process. The officer deserves a fair and impartial investigation. Most importantly, the truth deserves the opportunity to emerge before judgment is rendered.”
Original text
Where this statement fits
Should ICE's use of force in the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez be condemned or condoned?
On September 20, 2026, an ICE officer shot and wounded Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national working as a DoorDash driver, during an immigration enforcement operation in North Austin, Texas. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center in serious but stable condition and later transferred into ICE custody. Garces Perez says an unmarked SUV struck his vehicle before he realized the people pursuing him were immigration officers, that he asked an agent if he could stop somewhere safer than under a freeway overpass, and that he was shot after the agent refused. On September 29, federal prosecutors charged him with assaulting and resisting a federal officer. In a sworn affidavit, they say he refused commands to get out of his car and drove off, hitting an officer with his side mirror, and that after a brief chase one officer says Garces Perez tried to hit him with the car, and the officer fired. DHS has confirmed the shooting and said Garces Perez was subject to a final removal order. The dispute is whether the use of force against him was justified.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
First-person editorial by the National President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, published on Law Enforcement Today on September 24, 2026. The site notes that opinions in the piece are not necessarily its own.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
On September 20, 2026, an officer-involved shooting occurred during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Austin. Silverman wrote that public officials, commentators and news outlets began reporting on it almost immediately, with some assigning blame before many essential facts were known, and that news organizations had asked him to comment as FLEOA's national president.
After the quotation
In the same piece Silverman wrote that individual officers should be judged on the facts of their own conduct and not condemned merely for performing duties lawfully assigned to them. He also wrote that everyone should want a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation, and that supporting law enforcement and demanding accountability are not competing principles.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether ICE's use of force in the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was justified. Silverman does not say the shot was justified or unjustified. He writes that the Austin case should not be decided before investigators establish what happened and that judgment should wait for the facts. We used the Explicitly stayed out label because he chose to withhold judgment on the shooting itself.
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- FLEOA president Silverman says judgment on the Austin ICE shooting should wait for investigators
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The Dispute Index. "FLEOA president Silverman says judgment on the Austin ICE shooting should wait for investigators". First published: 2026-09-30. Last updated: 2026-09-30. https://disputeindex.com/events/3437-matthew-silverman-national-president-of-the-federal-law