News/Commentary

That ‘spontaneous’ anti-ICE protest in Austin? There’s more to the story

September 22, 2026 | | Print Article

A closer look at Austin’s “spontaneous protest” following Sunday’s ICE-involved shooting revealed dark money connections for well-organized radical groups.

Sunday in the Lone Star State’s capital, Venezuelan Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was identified as the illegal alien shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after video seemingly showed the suspect attempting to pull away after his vehicle was blocked. The aftermath included the usual rabble of flag-waving, mask-wearing, megaphone-chanting leftists that, according to an investigation from Fox News Digital, were assembled by a network of communist groups, some of which are tied to billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

According to the report from senior editor of investigations Asra Nomani and breaking news reporter Michael Dorgan, the groups included Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which, Fox News Digital reported, “works closely with nonprofits funded by Neville Roy Singham, a communist American-born tech tycoon living in Shanghai.”

As was previously reported, the illegal alien said to have overstayed his work permit was shot Sunday morning and was in stable condition after being taken into ICE custody. By the afternoon, the intersection where the incident occurred had been swarmed by activists calling for ICE to be booted from Austin.

Nomani shared a timeline on X with screenshots of the sensationalist demagoguery from the radical groups, organizing the “spontaneous protest” with specific times and a meeting place

Singham and the roughly $278 million funneled to anti-America leftists were recently the topic of a congressional hearing interrupted by CODEPINK and co-founder Medea Benjamin. As it happens, CODEPINK’s other co-founder, Jodie Evans, is Singham’s wife. At least $1.33 million of the nearly $300 million from the communist went to the activist troublemakers.

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BreakThrough News, likewise benefiting from Singham’s funding, covered the anti-ICE demonstration Sunday with the headline “Austin erupts in protest after ICE shoots, injures man.”

Further commenting on the vague coverage from KVUE that suggested the growth of the protest was organic, Fox News Digital’s report went on, “But the details of the Austin protest are important because they reveal that the demonstrations represent more than an unplanned gathering of residents responding to a breaking-news event, much like the protest in Minnesota and New Jersey …”

“The shooting provided the immediate trigger, but the mobilization was amplified by organizations with explicit revolutionary socialist and communist ideologies, established propaganda outlets and long-standing ties to international movements aligned with the communist governments of Cuba and Venezuela,” read the piece. “They each have pre-existing activist networks and online audiences that organized and promoted the protests.”

Given more time for organizing, protests continued Monday as participants openly wore shirts and carried signs representing the activist groups. Some even painted messages on highway pillars calling for the death of President Donald Trump as captured by reporter Savanah Hernandez.

Expectations for a peaceful assembly were kept low by law enforcement as the Texas Department of Public Safety urged the public to report suspicious activity as it announced the Texas State Capitol Grounds would be shuttered at 8:00 p.m.

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Kevin Haggerty
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