AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The shooting of a Venezuelan man in his vehicle by a federal immigration officer in Texas has set off renewed protests over the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was delivering food for DoorDash on Sunday when a traffic stop by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers ended with Garces Perez being shot once in the back. He says officers sideswiped his car without warning and shot him as he was turning around and trying to park.
Garces Perez says he was treated at a hospital but released into ICE’s custody with a bullet still in his back. He spent the night at an immigration detention center in south Texas before being taken back to a hospital Monday, according to Garces Perez’s attorney.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security hasn't said what led up to the shooting. In a statement Tuesday, the agency said Garces Perez was “the subject of a targeted vehicle stop” and suggested he had tried to evade arrest, but gave no further details.
Here’s what to know about the shooting in Austin:
Garces Perez was delivering food for DoorDash on Sunday afternoon when he says immigration officers in an unmarked truck accosted him, according to Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garces Perez’s attorney.
Speaking by phone with a translator during a news conference, Garces Perez said the officers didn’t ask him to stop or turn on any flashing lights until after they had sideswiped his car. He said he did a U-turn and was trying to park when the officers rammed his car and shot him.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a statement late Sunday that it is leading an investigation into the shooting with assistance from the FBI. The agency has offered no further details.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, the top state prosecutor in Austin, said local authorities are conducting their own investigation. In a letter Tuesday, he asked Homeland Security officials to keep Garces Perez in the U.S. until that investigation is done.
Garces Perez's attorney says he was an asylum seeker who entered the U.S. legally and had a valid work permit.
Homeland Security said Tuesday that Garces Perez's work permit expired last year and that it had a judge's order to remove him from the U.S.
Also Tuesday, a U.S. District Court judge scheduled a Sept. 30 hearing in Garces Perez's case and ordered that he attend. Garces Perez's attorney said the move prohibits ICE from deporting Perez beforehand.
Garces Perez came to the U.S. in 2024 under a program begun during President Joe Biden's administration that set up appointments with U.S. authorities for people to be considered for asylum, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. President Donald Trump ended the program on his first day in office.
A judge issued a deportation order for Garces Perez after he missed a hearing in immigration court because the hearing notice was sent to a former address, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
She said nothing about Garces Perez’s legal situation justified the way he was shot and apprehended by ICE.
Garces Perez was taken Sunday to an Austin hospital. He said doctors didn't remove the bullet inside him because it was close to his spine. He said the hospital released him to ICE officers eager to move him to a detention center.
Garces Perez was taken to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southwest of Austin, his attorney said. Garces Perez said he spent Sunday night on the floor and had no pain medication until a nurse gave him a pill Monday.
“I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,” Garces Perez said by phone at a news conference Monday.
Homeland Security denied Tuesday that Garces Perez had slept on the floor and said he was “receiving medical care around the clock, including pain medication.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch said in social media posts Tuesday that Garces Perez, after speaking publicly about his lack of treatment, was taken back to a hospital Monday night. She said he was given morphine for pain and his family learned the gunshot had fractured his clavicle.
Garces Perez was returned to the detention center around midnight Monday, the lawyer said.
The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during Trump’s second term. ICE reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.
Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny for shootings that have occurred during the crackdown.
At least 10 people have died during federal immigration sweeps since Trump returned to office last year. Six of them were fatally shot by federal officers. The others were struck by vehicles or suffered fatal falls while fleeing authorities.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.
