Man shot by ICE in Austin says bullet still in body | Today’s news
(Bloomberg) — A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. immigration official in Austin on Sunday says he still has a bullet lodged in his body.
Wilber Garces Perez, 28, was released from an Austin hospital hours after the shooting and is now in federal custody, his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said. His wound was not being treated when he was questioned, she said Monday during a news conference in which she took a call from Garces Perez and put him on speakerphone.
“Because of the gunshot wound, I’m not doing well and I’m not getting the medical care I need,” Garces Perez said in a phone call, adding that he was forced to sleep on the floor after arriving at the South Texas immigration jail. “I’m in a lot of pain.
In a statement released late Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security said a Venezuelan immigrant with a pending deportation order was shot and wounded during an arrest operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. DHS said the man is “stable and awaiting removal in federal custody.”
The agency said ICE’s Division of Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is investigating the shooting. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for further comment on Monday.
At the press conference, Garces Perez and Lincoln-Goldfinch gave an account of the events leading up to the shooting. They said he was in the middle of a DoorDash delivery shift Sunday afternoon when his car was hit by an unmarked sport utility vehicle. This caused him to spin, after which his car was hit again before coming to a stop. Then he was shot.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez entered the U.S. two years ago during the Biden administration, using a government smartphone app to make an appointment at the border and apply for asylum. He was later ordered deported in absentia after a hearing notice was sent to the wrong address, she said. Lincoln-Goldfinch said they would fight the removal order.
The Austin shooting comes two months after immigration officials shot and killed a man in Houston and another man in Maine less than a week apart. In January, immigration officials killed two American citizens in Minneapolis during a raid in the city.
The shooting of Garces Perez has sparked outrage among Texas Democratic leaders. James Talarico, who has emerged as the Democrats’ best chance to win a Texas Senate seat in a decade, has called for an independent investigation into the ICE shooting in Austin.
“Previous incidents have shown that this agency cannot be trusted to report all the facts,” Talarico said in a statement to X. “We need a full, independent investigation that includes the release of all available records.”
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, pushed for the “immediate release of body camera footage and accountability for any ICE officer who broke the law.”
–With help from María Paula Mijares Torres.
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