AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced an assault charge against a Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car by a federal immigration agent in Texas, accusing the man of striking an officer with his side mirror while trying to drive away.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer, according to a criminal complaint. Garces Perez, whose attorney has said still has a bullet lodged in his back from the Sept. 20 shooting, made an initial court appearance in an Austin federal court on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas.
A nine-page affidavit from a Department of Homeland Security agent amounts to the government's fullest public account to date of the shooting in the Texas capital, which has set off renewed protests and outrage from Democrats over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Garces Perez has been held in a South Texas detention facility and his attorneys have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop his removal from the U.S.
The complaint accuses him of sideswiping an officer with his driver's side car mirror and later attempting to strike the same officer with his car after a brief vehicle pursuit.
If convicted, Garces Perez faces up to 20 years in prison.
An attorney for Garces Perez declined to immediately comment on Tuesday. A DHS spokesperson referred questions to the Department of Justice.
According to an affidavit signed by a DHS agent, officers first pulled Garces Perez over near a shopping center around noon. The car had emergency flashers on, and they conducted a database check that showed the car was registered to Garces Perez who had a final order of removal from the U.S.
Garces Perez, who was making a DoorDash delivery, allegedly provided his driver's license through a crack in the window, but ignored agents' requests to step out of the car, the complaint said.
Garces Perez allegedly declined to exit because he had asked for officers to wait to apprehend him until his wife could come retrieve his car. Court documents describe the interaction as conversational, with a tone that was “pleasant and not aggressive.”
About a minute later, according to court records, Garces Perez “abruptly” closed the window and drove off. One of the officers, who is referred to only by his initials, was struck in his torso with the driver’s side view mirror when Garces Perez tried to drive away, the documents say.
Garces Perez entered the U.S. in 2024 using CBP One, a program begun under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to make appointments with U.S. authorities to be considered for asylum. President Trump ended the program on his first day in office.
Garces Perez was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, according to his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch. She said a judge issued a deportation order after Garces Perez missed an immigration court hearing because the notice was sent to a former address.
The affidavit includes Garces Perez providing his account to federal investigators, which paints a contrasting picture of the lead-up to the shooting than what federal prosecutors described.
According to the affidavit, Garces Perez said that a law enforcement SUV struck his car after a brief chase and caused it to spin before an agent opened fire, shooting him in the back. By contrast, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons said in a statement that Garces Perez tried to strike an officer with his car, “causing the officer to fire his pistol."
The unnamed officer who shot Garces Perez wasn't wearing a body camera. The other officer involved in the chase was wearing a camera, but only caught up to the chase after Garces Perez had been shot, according to the affidavit.
ICE has previously said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September.
The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during President Donald 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 since Trump took office in January 2025. On a handful of occasions, federal law enforcement has charged the person shot by immigration officers with assault.
A woman shot several times by Border Patrol officers in Chicago and a man shot in the leg by an ICE agent in Minneapolis were both accused of assaulting officers, but in both cases the charges were dropped. The ICE officer in Minneapolis has since been charged with lying about getting assaulted before shooting the man in the leg.
___ Riddle reported from Los Angeles.
