Some incidents are considered much more newsworthy than others...especially if ICE agents are involved. Violent crimes by illegal immigrants are not considered newsworthy. This week, DHS released a list of criminal aliens they've arrested in Texas. You'll likely never hear their names on national TV.
On Tuesday, new videos emerged shedding more light on the ICE shooting of Venezuelan illegal immigrant Wilber Garces Perez, Sunday in Austin Texas, including that a car chase, appears to have occurred after he had been stopped by ICE, leading to the shooting. Tuesday on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper, both a report on the videos and a follow-up with Perez's attorney, ignored obvious questions raised by the videos.
Tapper began the segment in a manner most sympathetic to Perez, describing the illegal alien as, "A 28-year-old Venezuelan man, Wilber Garces Perez. He was shot in the back by an Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agent or ICE agent on Sunday while the gentleman was driving DoorDash."
After giving an update on Perez's health status, Tapper noted that existing videos, "don't shed much light" then presented two conflicting accounts of what led up to the shooting.
He began with a Trump administration source, who said Perez was here illegally, was pulled over, and soon fled the scene. Tapper then gave the Perez side.
TAPPER: According to his attorney, Garces Perez legally sought asylum in the United States through a Biden-era program that Trump has since ended. But he was issued a work permit and was driving for DoorDash.
Tapper did not mention that DHS calls the work permit claim one of many false claims being spread by the media, and they have issued a list of those claims, along with the actual facts. They say Perez's work permit expired in 2025, and that he entered illegally under the Biden Administration.
Tapper would then give Perez's account of events which the new videos would call into dispute, but Tapper did not.
TAPPER: Garces Perez said he was making deliveries when an unmarked SUV tried to hit him. When he realized it was ICE agents inside, Garces Perez said he asked to pull over to be detained, but the ICE agent denied his request. So when he tried to make a U-turn to park, he says the SUV ran into his car and then he was shot.
Tapper then announced: "A source says the ICE officer who shot Garces Perez is on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. At least 20 people have been shot by on duty by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies, according to a CNN analysis. In some of those cases, witness accounts and video have proven that the government's account was false."
He then threw it to National Correspondent Ed Lavandera in Austin, who had attended a news conference with the Mayor and Police Chief, and he described what new videos from an off duty Austin police detective showed.
LAVANDERA: He captured a stop where you see the vehicle that was driven by Wilber Garces Perez surrounded by several ICE officer vehicles unmarked to black SUVs.... About 10 or 15 minutes later, that off-duty police officer comes back out from this area and then captures another video where you can hear the shooting which took place right over here.
Lavandera soon threw it back to Tapper, without either journalist mentioning the new revelation. The video showed Perez stopped and surrounded by ICE agents at one location, and 10-15 minutes later, he's shot at another location, indicating the chase that took place likely occurred after the initial stop.
CBSAustin.com, linked above, understood the news that was made:
What remains unclear is why Garcés Pérez left the initial traffic stop, what events occurred along the route, and what led to the shooting under the overpass. Garcés Pérez’s attorney said her client reported being chased by a black SUV and did not initially realize it belonged to law enforcement. She said he was trying to reach a safer place, not attempting to get away.
But even though the new videos seemed to rip apart that unlikely scenario, it was not mentioned by Lavandera or Tapper.
In fact Tapper, then turned to reporter Pricilla Alvarez to talk about the officer who shot Perez, and followed that up by speaking with Perez's attorney, and during the 5 and a half minute interview, never asked her about how the new videos seem to tear a hole in her previous claims. Instead, he began by repeating a claim that Alvarez had just told him DHS had disputed, that Perez wasn't getting pain medication, and by asking how her client was doing.
He did ask her where Perez and the ICE agent were when he was shot in the back, if she's seen all videos, about the fact that the officer did not a body cam for this incident, and if she was concerned DHS might hinder any local investigation.
You can see most of that interview below.
How is it possible that journalist Tapper never asked Perez's attorney even one specific question about what the newly released videos reveal about her previous claims? This is CNN!
