Radicals waving foreign flags and leftist signage flooded the streets of North Austin on Sunday following a nonfatal shooting involving a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and a Venezuelan national.

As the sun set on a day full of anti-ICE rhetoric from Democratic officials, including Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, protesters turned violent, prompting a crackdown from Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.

The shooting

The shooting took place just before 1 p.m. on Sunday in the 8000 block of Anderson Square.

‘I am ready to Melt ICE.’

Austin-Travis County EMS Rob Luckritz noted that the individual who caught the bullet — identified by his immigration attorney as 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan national allegedly working as a DoorDash driver — had stable vital signs but was nevertheless taken to Dell Seton Medical Center in “serious condition.”

A video live streamed around the time of the shooting and reviewed by the New York Times captures the sound of screeching tires and a collision, then pivots to show a damaged Corolla driven by Perez stopped next to an SUV driven by an ICE officer, the NYT reported. The vehicles can be seen on the video facing in opposite directions.

In a different video obtained by ABC News that shows the aftermath of the shooting, Perez can be heard claiming in Spanish that he was shot for failing to “brake,” the outlet reported.

RELATED: The mass-deportation promise is disappearing

Masked radical throws a rock at law enforcement at an anti-ICE demonstration in Austin on Sept. 20. Brandon Bell/Getty Images.

Homeland Security Investigations is now investigating the shooting with the help of the FBI.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the individual shot on Sunday is an “illegal alien from Venezuela, who illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal, during a law enforcement operation today in Austin, TX.”

Perez received treatment at the hospital and was transferred into ICE custody.

The Democratic reflex

Following the shooting, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson joined other Democrats in presuming the worst and attacking ICE, stating, “I am very angry and extremely disappointed that a person was shot on the streets of Austin by ICE. While I’m angry and disappointed, I’m not surprised. This has happened in other cities. With the rogue nature of ICE and the chaos we’re seeing fomented by ICE, there’s no reason to be surprised.”

Texas Rep. Greg Casar (D) also seized the opportunity to remind everyone that he loathes federal immigration enforcement, stating, “The horror has come to our city: ICE has shot a person in Austin this morning.”

“Just like Americans have from Minneapolis to Houston, Austinites will speak out peacefully against this deadly mass deportation machine. ICE has been terrorizing our country for far too long. We will not be silent,” added Casar, the son of immigrants.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) tweeted, “Trump has allowed ICE to flood our streets and put our communities in harms [sic] way again and again and Governor Abbott is complicit every time.”

Anchor-baby Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) accused the DHS of being the “biggest threat to our collective safety” and noting, “I am ready to Melt ICE and dismantle DHS!”

While admittedly short on information, Texas state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D) stated, “This violence cannot continue.”

The restoration of order

As Democrats took turns attacking ICE online, a horde of anti-ICE demonstrators rallied near the scene of the shooting, waving signs that said, “Stop ICE murder,” “F**k ICE,” “Moms against ICE,” “Justice 4 Wilber,” and “Abolish ICE.”

The mob grew increasingly unruly, not only lobbing rocks and other projectiles at law enforcement but attempting on multiple occasions to march on the taped-off site of the shooting. The Texas Department of Public Safety troopers responded by firing pepper balls toward the radicals while Austin police officers in riot gear stood ready.

After deploying tear gas, tackling some rioters, and successfully dispersing the mob, whose assembly was declared unlawful, troopers left the scene around 11 p.m., reported NBC News.

Blaze News reached out to the Texas Department of Public Safety and the DHS for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

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​Austin, Riot, Texas, Illegal immigrant, Venezuela, Deportation, Politics, Immigration and customs enforcement 

Islam is widely known as a religion, but former Muslim and Ideological Defense Institute founder Danny Burmawi doesn’t believe that’s actually what it is.

“When people think of Islam, they think of Christianity,” he tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck.

“No, when you think of Islam, think of the United States of America. Think of France, China, because Islam is a state. Now, that state has a religion,” he says.

“It has a constitution. It’s called Sharia. Just like the constitution of the United States. It has a population. They’re called Muslims. So Muslims are not analogous with Christians. It’s analogous with Americans,” he continues.

“We must look so incredibly ignorant and stupid,” Glenn says in response. “Because they say it in their mosque. They say it out loud. ‘We are going to take over. We will have Sharia.’ That means overthrow the constitution of whatever country they’re in.”

“And they’ve done it in country after country after country,” he continues.

“We just don’t see it. We’re not willing to stand up and speak the truth,” he adds.

However, Burmawi explains that the majority of Muslims do not adhere to the extremist beliefs of the few, because if they wanted “to adhere to everything that Islam teaches,” they would be better suited living with ISIS.

“Islam is not practical at all, and Muslims, they have cognitive dissonance. I was a Muslim. I’m telling you that confusion, you don’t know how to live in the word because your belief system is completely contradictory with the reality around you,” he tells Glenn.

“So you ignore it,” he continues. “However, if we have 1% out of the five, six million Muslims in America, only 1% who are faithful, who are willing to carry out all the teachings of Muhammad, then what is that, like 50,000 people?”

“You have literally 50,000 ISIS terrorists living in America today just at 1%,” he adds.

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​Christianity, Islam, Muslim, Religion, Isis, Danny burmawi, Glenn beck, United states, Blazetv show 

Welcome to the golden age of “illegal immigration tourism,” a truly perverse hospitality trend sweeping the European continent. In this upside-down world, guests don’t pay, hosts can’t say no, and room service is billed directly to someone else.

The author and academic Steven Pinker argues there has never been a better time to be alive. That is certainly true if you happen to be living on the receiving end of Western Europe’s taxpayer-funded generosity.

In Ireland, where I was born and raised, village hotels that once sustained regional tourism now operate as full-time reception facilities for Africans.

The Brussels package

There was a time when getting to Europe from North Africa was difficult, if not impossible. It required real planning and actual savings. Not anymore. Brussels bureaucrats streamlined the process entirely. Today, a person needs only a dinghy and a willingness to let the German state handle the reservation details — complete with complimentary linen changes and a buffet breakfast.

The recent real estate pivot in Hamburg-Harburg’s Inner Harbor perfectly illustrates the absurdity. Developers recently spent €60 million in combined public and private funds to transform a postindustrial harbor into a sleek waterfront destination. The crown jewel of this urban renewal project is the Niu Quay, a charming hotel aimed at middle- and upper-class visitors. It was supposed to transform the neighborhood’s dining, tourism, and nightlife. Instead, it opened with plenty of fanfare, enjoyed a remarkably brief run as a business, and then promptly shut its doors to paying guests.

Hamburg’s municipal housing agency, Fördern & Wohnen, then stepped in with taxpayer money, leasing all 340 rooms through at least the end of the year. The hotel’s primary function shifted overnight from hosting respectable tourists to serving as an all-inclusive sanctuary for incoming asylum seekers. The city’s public housing system is currently at 102.8% capacity, with hotel suites serving as an administrative workaround to avoid the optics of encampments in public parks.

Seasonal depression

There is plenty of dark humor in this arrangement. A Hamburg native, hamstrung by inflation and stagnant wages, faces an immediate dilemma. He hands over his hard-earned money that funds the municipal lease, only to be priced out of the very city his taxes are supposed to support. He buys the train ticket to the district. Upon arrival, he finds he cannot book a room at the newest hotel because the state outbid him using his own paycheck. If he wishes to enjoy a luxury staycation in his own city, he is out of luck. The state has monopolized the reservation desk and effectively nationalized the local leisure economy.

This situation is dire, and it’s not limited to the banks of the Elbe River. Across Europe, the traditional hospitality sector has morphed into a state-subsidized sanctuary network. In Britain, former Victorian seaside resorts and historic country houses have seen their traditional guest books replaced by lucrative, state-funded government contracts, effectively gutting the high streets and seasonal economies of beautiful coastal towns.

Five-star accommodations, complete with full spa access, state-of-the-art gyms, saunas, and heated indoor swimming pools, are now routinely repurposed to house one-star guests. In Ireland, where I was born and raised, village hotels that once sustained regional tourism now operate as full-time reception facilities for Africans, leaving local pub owners and shopkeepers to wonder where the actual tourists went.

RELATED: ‘The ship is already sinking’: Why the ‘Citizen Vigilante’ director wants to shock you

bollfilms.com

5-star fandango

The daily economics highlight the insanity. Last year, Hamburg spent an average of €82 ($95) per person per day just on hotel placements for migrants. Combined, the city-states of Hamburg and Berlin dump approximately €4 billion annually into housing and processing costs. That sum buys a staggering amount of high-end lodging.

While local residents cancel their own vacation plans to save money for winter heating bills, the government operates as Europe’s most aggressive luxury travel agent, booking out entire floors of freshly renovated properties without ever asking for a credit card pre-authorization.

City officials in Hamburg recently announced plans to dial back their reliance on expensive hotel leases. Directly after making that public pledge, they signed the lease for the Niu Quay.

Municipal negotiators insist they push for below-market rates, yet city agencies routinely sign off on premium room rates when state-run facilities close suddenly. A major processing center on Schlachthofstrasse shuts down this autumn, and the state’s immediate solution is to upgrade the occupants to a trendy harbor hotel — proving that in public administration, failure simply buys you a better view of the marina.

Holding the bag

Everyday citizens are left holding the bag. The chairman of the local parliamentary group pointed out that small restaurants, family-run cafes, and retail shops built their entire financial models around a steady influx of tourists with plenty of disposable income. Now, the district’s primary commercial center is occupied by a population being housed at the taxpayer’s expense. These men and women don’t dine out on corporate expense accounts. They don’t order local services or buy goods from nearby stores. Why would they, when everything is taken care of?

This asinine arrangement shapes a migrant’s first impression of their host nation. Arriving directly into this level of comfort fosters an immediate sense of entitlement. It instills the expectation that the government will never stop providing luxury accommodations and daily provisions and that the rewards will come without any personal effort, financial contribution, or integration into local society.

European governments have created a system where the easiest way to secure a mid-tier luxury room in a major city is to abandon your documentation at the border. The working class finances the hospitality. The business class loses its customers, and the state acts as the master concierge, ensuring every stylish guesthouse stays filled at public expense.

​Steven pinker, Immigration, Europe, Illegal immigration, Migrant hotels, Ireland, Germany, Hamburg, Culture, The rape of europa 

Democrat Texas Senate nominee James Talarico is once again attempting to rewrite the gospel, and this time it was while sitting down with Jimmy Kimmel — who claimed that they could only air it on YouTube “because of Trump.”

In the interview, he explained to Kimmel that Scripture “tells us that you can’t love God and hate other people.”

“You can’t love God and abuse the immigrant. You can’t love God and oppress the poor. You can’t love God and bully the outcast,” he began.

“Matthew 25 tells us Christians exactly how we’re going to be judged and how we’re going to be saved: by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger,” he said. “I often wonder: What would Jesus do if he visited the U.S. Senate?”

“I think he would tell the senators on the floor, ‘Depart from me, for I was hungry and you cut my food assistance. I was sick and you kicked me off Medicaid. I was a stranger and you deported me and my family,” he added.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray “can’t” with Talarico’s bizarre interpretation of God’s word.

“No more,” he says.

“Because Jesus was advocating for all of those government programs. Really?”

“That is so unbelievably stupid and wrongheaded and not the gospel. This guy is an antichrist. Again, he may not be the antichrist, but is an antichrist,” he continues.

“He is continually preaching the opposite of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is unbelievable. Wow,” he adds.

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​Antichrist, Christians, James talarico, Jesus christ, Jimmy kimmel, Medicaid, Pat gray, Scripture, Us senate, Blazetv show 

I have spent more than two decades working in politics and have been involved in roughly 50 campaigns, from local races to presidential contests. If there is one lesson I have learned, it is this: Never tell voters that what they are experiencing isn’t real.

With the midterm elections eight weeks away, too many campaigns risk making that mistake. Washington wants to talk about foreign policy, economic indicators, and political strategy. Voters are looking at receipts, and those receipts tell a different story.

Voters can forgive difficult circumstances. What they will not forgive is being told those circumstances don’t exist.

In the week ending September 7, the national average for diesel reached a record $5.97 a gallon. That matters far beyond truck stops. Farmers, contractors, freight carriers, and delivery networks all depend on diesel.

When those costs rise, they move through the supply chain. Fuel becomes part of the grocery bill, the restaurant bill, the cost of construction, shipping, and nearly everything else Americans buy. The consumer ultimately pays.

The line between foreign policy and affordability is not always clean. Wars, sanctions, and instability abroad can raise oil prices and transportation costs at home. But voters experience those events through household economics: the price on the pump, the supermarket receipt, and the balance in the checking account.

Politicians love macroeconomics. Voters live in microeconomics.

A candidate can talk about GDP, job creation, or the stock market, but those figures do not erase what a family pays for groceries, housing, insurance, and energy. The voter’s checking account gets the final vote.

As much as it pains me to admit it, Democrat strategist James Carville got at least one thing right. During Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, Carville drove home a simple message: “It’s the economy, stupid.” More than three decades later, Republicans would be wise to remember the lesson.

I have seen campaigns become consumed with the issue they want voters to care about rather than the issue voters actually care about. Those are not always the same thing.

The evidence this year is hard to miss. A July Pew Research Center survey found that voters most wanted congressional candidates to discuss economic issues, especially prices and affordability. In a companion survey, 66% said they were very concerned about food and consumer-goods prices, 64% about housing costs, and 56% about gasoline prices.

RELATED: Can a $1.2 trillion giveaway become a fiscal bargain?

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Foreign policy and national security still matter. China, Russia, Iran, and America’s place in the world cannot be dismissed. No single issue will decide every race. But elections are personal, and voters usually encounter national policy through its effect on daily life.

A parent in a supermarket aisle is not conducting a geopolitical analysis while comparing grocery prices. A driver filling the family SUV is watching the numbers on the pump. Both are asking the same question: How much is this going to cost me?

They are thinking about the mortgage, electric bill, car payment, insurance, groceries, gas, child care, and credit cards. They are wondering why an income that once felt comfortable now seems barely sufficient. That is affordability, and it will decide November.

Economic frustration helped return Donald Trump to the White House. Republicans cannot assume that the issue automatically works in their favor now. They cannot tell families struggling with grocery and fuel bills that everything is fine or insist that distant events matter more than household finances.

That does not require Republicans to abandon foreign policy or the administration’s agenda. It requires candidates to acknowledge what voters are experiencing and explain what they intend to do about it. There is an enormous political difference between saying, “The economy is great,” and saying, “We’ve made progress, but prices are still too high, and here is what we’re doing next.”

RELATED: Free money wins elections — and that’s why America’s debt will keep growing

Blaze Media Illustration

Democrats should not celebrate, either. Economic frustration does not automatically translate into support for Democratic policies. Voters will judge which candidates understand their financial situation and offer credible solutions. That gives both parties an opportunity, but neither a guaranteed victory.

Campaigns succeed when candidates understand what voters are feeling. They fail when consultants persuade candidates that voters should care about something else. After roughly 50 campaigns, I have found that voters can forgive difficult circumstances. What they will not forgive is being told those circumstances don’t exist.

The question in November will not be whether Washington can produce statistics showing that parts of the economy are strong. It will be whether Americans believe they can afford their lives.

When they enter the voting booth, they will not be carrying economic charts. They will be carrying their grocery receipts.

​Affordability, Campaigns, Foreign policy, Gasoline prices, Grocery prices, Housing costs, Job creation, Mortgage, Stock market, Voters, White house, Opinion & analysis