In Phoenix, tensions flared Wednesday after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot at a driver during a traffic stop before sunrise. About 14 hours later, dozens of protesters gathered outside the ICE field office on Central Avenue to demand answers.
The driver, identified by ICE as 34-year-old Honduran immigrant Jose Garcia-Sorto, was injured in the incident, though it’s still unclear whether he was hit by gunfire, reported by The Phoenix New Times. Around 40 to 50 people, including Phoenix City Councilmember Anna Hernandez and state Sen. Analise Ortiz, both Democrats, showed up for a vigil. Candles lined the sidewalk as speakers addressed the crowd, many holding signs criticizing ICE.
The field office itself was quiet, but the mood outside was tense and emotional. “We still don’t know the details of why (ICE) stopped this person,” Hernandez told reporters, saying the agency was operating “without transparency or identification” and harassing the community. “That is part of the problem — they’re handling this in the shadows,” she said. “That’s not how things should be. That’s what worries me.”
According to ICE, the shooting happened around 4 a.m. on Interstate 17 in north Phoenix. The agency said Garcia-Sorto initially stopped but then began to drive away as agents approached. In a statement to the Phoenix New Times, ICE said the officer who fired “fear(ed) for his life” and “defensively discharged his service weapon two times.”
Garcia-Sorto was taken to the hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. ICE hasn’t confirmed if he was struck by bullets or injured another way. Photos from the scene show damage to the driver’s side window, though investigators have not said whether it was caused by gunfire. The agency declined to comment further, citing an ongoing FBI investigation.
For many in Phoenix’s immigrant community, the incident felt like yet another example of excessive force by federal immigration agents. “We are grateful that (Garcia-Sorto) is still alive and pray that he remains alive,” said Maria Teresa Mabry, co-executive director of the Arizona Democracy Resource Center. “We know that this is not an isolated incident, that police brutality and harm from the state is not new for us. But it is more important in this moment that we come together, see each other, build with each other and know that we are the folks who are going to keep us safe.”
Karla Bautista, director of Trans Queer Pueblo’s liberation project, told the crowd in Spanish that federal authorities are “fomenting fear” to silence vulnerable communities. She shared the story of Yari Marquez, a Phoenix woman with leukemia detained at ICE’s Eloy Detention Center since February. Family and friends say Marquez, who’s lived in the U.S. for 20 years and holds a green card, is dying due to lack of medical care. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a Phoenix Democrat, echoed those concerns after visiting Marquez earlier this year.
As candles flickered along Central Avenue, the crowd’s message was clear: they want answers, accountability, and change.