Judge sets hearing for Venezuelan man shot by ICE and police in Texas release some video from scene
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A judge has ordered a Venezuelan man shot in Texas by a federal immigration officer to appear in court as his attorneys seek to stop his removal from the U.S. and criticize his medical care, saying he remains in pain from a bullet lodged in his back.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was back in a federal detention center Tuesday after being treated and released at a hospital for a second time since he was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Sunday in Austin, according to his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.
Austin police on Tuesday released body camera footage showing Garces Perez hunching over in the front seat of his car and grabbing his shoulder and rocking back and forth after the shooting. An officer later cut off Perez's shirt, and a wound can be seen in his upper back.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas said he planned to visit Garces Perez on Wednesday to “check on his condition and demand his release.” The Department of Homeland Security defended Garces Perez's treatment and its operations, saying ICE would not slow down or leave Austin.
Castro has joined other Democrats in sharply criticizing the shooting, which came amid a surge in enforcement during President Donald Trump’s second term. The encounter has sparked protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.
Garces Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, Lincoln-Goldfinch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back, she said.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Garces Perez to appear in person at a hearing Sept. 30 in San Antonio in response to a lawsuit filed by his attorney, who is seeking to stop attempts to remove him from the country. In the order, Garcia wrote that “petitioner must be present at the hearing.”
In court filings, Garces Perez’s lawyers said he was forced to sleep on a cement floor at an ICE temporary processing center before being transferred to a detention center in the rural town of Pearsall. They also alleged that he was questioned without an attorney present.
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, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. President Donald Trump ended the program on his first day in office.
Garces Perez was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch. She said a judge issued a deportation order after the man missed an immigration court hearing because the notice was sent to a former address.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said Tuesday that an off-duty detective reported the incident after witnessing and recording black SUVs surrounding a dark blue Toyota Corolla. Ten to fifteen minutes later, Davis said, he takes a video where three gunshots and sirens can be heard.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday about whether the federal officer who shot Garces Perez was wearing a body-worn camera. Davis said she did not know whether federal officers on the scene were wearing body cameras.
ICE has said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September.
Davis said there was a pursuit that went through some side neighborhoods that ended on a side street about 200 yards (meters) from where Perez was eventually shot. The body worn camera videos released by Austin police do not show what led up to the shooting. The body warn camera footage begins with an officer walking up to Garces Perez's car after the shooting and interacting with federal officers on the scene.
The videos are partially muted, and Garces Perez is speaking Spanish to the officers. State troopers are also on the scene. An officer asks one of the federal officers if Garces Perez is under arrest and is told yes.
On Monday, Perez called into a news conference and told reporters he had received no pain medication and slept on the floor. DHS said in a statement Tuesday that Garces Perez was receiving medical care “around the clock, including pain medication" and had slept on a bed.
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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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