Socialist and communist organizations promoted the demonstration within hours of an ICE shooting, while evidence does not establish that protesters themselves were paid.
AUSTIN, TX — Socialist and communist organizations used established activist networks and social media accounts to rapidly promote an anti-ICE demonstration after a federal immigration agent shot a Venezuelan man in Austin, according to a Fox News Digital investigation and public posts examined by the outlet.
The organizing activity followed the Sept. 20 shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national. Austin officials said an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot Perez after a brief foot pursuit in north Austin. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, told The Texas Tribune that Perez had a valid work permit and entered the United States legally. He was treated at a hospital and later released into federal custody.
The shooting quickly became the focus of a demonstration near the scene. Fox News reported that the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization promoted the protest through national and local accounts. The reporting documented how existing political organizations were able to publicize the shooting, circulate protest information and draw attention to the gathering within hours of the incident.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s national account posted about the shooting at about 4:19 p.m. local time, according to Fox News. Its Austin chapter also circulated material about the incident through social media accounts connected with other Texas chapters. Later that afternoon, the Austin chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America promoted an emergency demonstration and vigil at 8121 Research Boulevard. The notice described the event as a “spontaneous protest” against ICE and police violence.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization and its Austin chapter also published material about the shooting, according to the report. The organizations involved have openly stated socialist, Marxist or communist political goals in their own published programs. Their participation shows that established activist groups helped organize and amplify the Austin response, rather than the demonstration being solely an unplanned gathering that developed without organizational involvement.
That distinction does not establish that individual demonstrators were paid to participate or that every person who joined the Austin protest was connected to an organizing group. Similar claims about paid anti-ICE protesters elsewhere have faced scrutiny. PolitiFact reported in January that it found no evidence supporting broad claims that Minnesota’s anti-ICE protesters were paid, while noting that professional community organizers commonly participate in protest movements. Organizing a demonstration and paying individual protesters are separate claims requiring separate evidence.
Fox News also connected some of the organizations operating in the broader protest network to nonprofits financed by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born technology businessman living in Shanghai. Its reporting said Singham has provided substantial funding to organizations including the People’s Forum, CodePink and BreakThrough BT Media. BreakThrough News, operated by BreakThrough BT Media, promoted footage and reporting from the Austin demonstration. Fox News did not establish that Singham personally directed the Austin protest or paid its participants.
The funding and coordination of anti-ICE activism have also attracted attention from Republican lawmakers. In February, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri asked the Justice Department to investigate what he described as possible national coordination and foreign-linked financing behind anti-ICE campaigns. His letter alleged that some demonstrations were supported through nonprofit networks and called for federal authorities to determine whether any laws had been violated. The letter itself did not establish those allegations as proven facts.
The Austin demonstration grew out of a shooting whose circumstances remain under investigation. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said an ICE agent shot Perez after a brief foot pursuit. Austin police and the Texas Rangers planned to investigate alongside the Department of Homeland Security, while the Travis County District Attorney’s Office sought access to evidence and requested a role as a co-equal investigative partner. Austin police were not the agency whose officer fired the shot.
The dispute over how to characterize the protest continued after the Fox News report. The Party for Socialism and Liberation rejected the suggestion that coordination made the demonstration illegitimate, describing the response as driven by anger over the shooting. The Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Party for Socialism and Liberation did not provide comments to Fox News for its initial report.
The available evidence therefore documents rapid coordination and promotion by established political organizations, but it does not by itself prove that the broader anti-ICE protest movement is centrally controlled or that participants were paid. Investigations into the Austin shooting remain active, while questions about activist funding and organizational ties continue to draw scrutiny from lawmakers and news organizations.
Author note: Last updated September 23, 2026.