A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin is now being held at a Texas ICE detention center with a bullet still lodged near his spine, his attorney said Monday.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, spoke by phone during a news conference and said doctors did not remove the bullet because of its location near his spine. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Perez was released from a hospital later Sunday and transferred into ICE custody.
“I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,” Perez said in Spanish, according to a translation provided by a member of his attorney’s staff during the news conference.
Attorney: ICE Truck Sideswiped His Car Before Shooting
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday when ICE officers in an unmarked truck “sideswiped” his car twice. Perez said officers did not tell him to stop or activate flashing lights until after the sideswipes, according to the attorney’s account.
Perez said he made a U-turn and was trying to park when officers rammed his vehicle and shot him in the back of the neck, Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters.
According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Perez was later held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin. She said Perez told her in an earlier phone call that he was being interrogated.
Homeland Security Has Released Few Details
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said early Monday that it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man who was in the U.S. illegally and “had a final order of removal.” The department has not publicly said what led to the shooting, according to the Associated Press.
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to email requests for additional comment on the shooting, the AP reported.
Lawyer Says Perez Was an Asylum Seeker With a Work Permit
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez entered the United States in 2024 through CBP One, a Biden-era appointment system used by migrants seeking consideration for asylum. President Donald Trump ended the program on his first day in office.
Perez’s attorneys said he was an asylum seeker and had a work permit, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said an immigration judge issued a deportation order after Perez missed a court hearing because the notice was sent to a former address.
“Not that being out of status would justify any of this at all,” Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote in a social media post about the shooting.
Calls Grow for Independent Review of ICE Force
At Monday’s news conference, local advocates, leaders from the League of United Latin American Citizens and two Democratic members of Congress representing parts of Austin called for an independent body to review ICE use-of-force incidents and refer suspected crimes to prosecutors.
They also urged Congress to bar ICE officers from making traffic stops, arguing that officers are undertrained and too quick to use violence.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, has said local police should have a role in investigating the shooting and that it would not be appropriate for ICE to investigate the incident alone.
The AP reported that the area near the shooting scene was quiet Monday after protesters had gathered there Sunday. Beneath an overpass, plastic bags of trash remained near concrete pylons marked with anti-ICE graffiti. Candles, flowers and a sign reading “Justice for Wilber” were left among discarded police tape.
The shooting comes during a sharp rise in ICE enforcement during Trump’s second term. ICE reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in both July and August, the first time the agency had reached that level, according to the AP.
