Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Austin remains in detention with bullet lodged in back

A Venezuelan man who was shot by an immigration officer while delivering a DoorDash order in Austin, Texas, was transferred from the hospital to a detention center with a bullet still in his back, his lawyer said Monday.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot in the back by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after the officer sideswiped the 28-year-old’s car early Sunday afternoon, attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters at a Monday news conference. Garces Perez was then taken to the hospital, and his family was notified four hours later that he had been taken to the South Texas Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, approximately a two-hour drive away from Austin, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. 

Garces Perez spoke by phone during the news conference, saying in Spanish that he was in a lot of pain. He explained that the bullet wasn’t removed because it was lodged close to his spine.

“I am not doing well, and I am not receiving the medical attention that I require,” Garces Perez said, adding that he’s being held in a cold room with no bed.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client also doesn’t have access to pain medication at the detention center.

Multiple law enforcement sources told WTX US News the ICE officer who allegedly opened fire at Garces Perez has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard for officers involved in pending investigations.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement late Sunday that Homeland Security Investigations, which is a part of ICE, is leading the investigation into the shooting with the assistance of the FBI. The spokesperson said Garces Perez illegally entered the United States under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.

“This is a developing situation, and we will update the public when more information becomes available,” the spokesperson said.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Monday that Garces Perez entered the U.S. from Venezuela in 2024 using the Biden-era CBP One app, which allowed more than 900,000 migrants from countries across the globe who were seeking asylum to enter the U.S. at official ports along the southern border after booking appointments.

Garces Perez had a work permit and was seeking asylum, but he had received a deportation order in absentia after missing a court hearing because the notice was sent to his old address, his lawyer said.

DHS has also terminated the parole status of those processed under the CBP One app last year and urged them to leave “immediately.” In April, a federal judge in Boston ordered the Trump administration to restore their legal status, but DHS argued the president has the authority “to determine who remains in this country.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents parts of Austin, said Garces Perez has no criminal record and condemned ICE’s presence in the city. Immigration arrests of those without criminal records reached a record high in July, according to federal data.

“The vast majority of people being pulled over have zero criminal records,” Casar said Monday at the news conference. “ICE has not made us more safe by arresting 5-year-olds, by shooting delivery drivers, by raiding construction sites. We will all be more safe when ICE gets the hell out of Austin, Texas.”

Lincoln-Goldfinch, Casar and other local officials have called for transparency and demanded that ICE release any body camera footage of the incident.

“The public deserves more than an agency’s account of a shooting or killing. We deserve to see the evidence,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a social media post. “ICE traffic stops also need to end. Too many of these encounters have resulted in violence, shootings, detention, and families desperately searching for loved ones who have been taken away.”

Garces Perez’s shooting comes a few months after an ICE officer shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, in July after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site. Lorenzo Salgado Jr. said his father had lived in the U.S. for over three decades.

Also in July, 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian man, was shot by an ICE officer in Maine. Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told him the man wasn’t the target of the ICE operation.

And in Evanston, Illinois, on Sunday, federal immigration officers allegedly tried to arrest a man who turned out to be a U.S. citizen. The man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth, local police said.