WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - 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.
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.
U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. for nearly 35 years, according to an account entered into the Congressional Record.
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.
Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. 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.