A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Austin on Sunday remains in federal detention in south Texas and has been told by a specialist that he requires surgery to remove a bullet lodged near his spine.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar visited Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, at a federal detention facility and said the man was confined to a wheelchair and still experiencing significant pain. Casar said the wound in Garces Perez’s back remains open and requires gauze changes two to three times a day.
Casar called on authorities to transfer Garces Perez to a hospital immediately and not delay any surgery his family chooses to pursue. The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that the detainee is receiving around-the-clock medical care and pain medication.
According to his attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garces Perez was working a DoorDash delivery when ICE officers in an unmarked vehicle sideswiped his car twice before shooting him. He was hospitalized and then transferred directly into ICE custody with the bullet still in his body.
ICE has described the incident only as a “targeted vehicle stop” and has not explained what prompted the shooting. It remains unclear whether the agent involved was wearing a body camera. Austin Police Department body camera footage released after the shooting shows Garces Perez slumped in his car, clutching his shoulder and visibly in distress.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Garces Perez entered the United States legally in 2024 through the CBP One program and held a valid work permit as an asylum seeker. A deportation order was issued after he missed an immigration court hearing because the notice was sent to an outdated address.
The shooting occurred against the backdrop of a major ICE enforcement surge in the Austin area. Federal data shows ICE made more than 1,000 arrests in Austin, Pflugerville and surrounding communities during June and July, an increase of more than 80 percent compared to the previous peak.
The data, analyzed by the Associated Press using figures from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA, shows that nearly two out of three people arrested in the Austin area during that period had no criminal convictions and no pending criminal charges. Unlike other cities, the Austin surge was driven primarily by traffic stops and community enforcement rather than partnerships with local law enforcement.
DHS denied claims that Garces Perez was forced to sleep on a floor or that he was blocked from receiving the bullet removal procedure.