Migrant wounded by ICE in Austin is in custody with no pain medication, his lawyer says
Wilber Garcés was discharged hours after being shot by a federal agent Sunday in the Texas capital
The Venezuelan migrant shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Austin, Texas, is being held at a detention center in Pearsall, about a two-hour drive from the state capital, the office of his lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez still has the bullet lodged in his body, has not received pain medication, and had to sleep on the floor, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
The 28-year-old migrant was making DoorDash deliveries on Sunday morning when he was intercepted and shot by at least one ICE agent at an intersection in Austin. It is unclear exactly what happened before at least one federal officer fired at the blue Toyota Corolla Garcés was riding in and before the migrant was taken to the hospital. Videos shot by passersby showed a vehicle stopped in front of a black pickup and, seconds later, several gunshots.
In another video filmed in front of the car, a man is seen sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open when an agent approaches him and quickly turns away while speaking into what appears to be a portable radio or cellphone. The footage does not show the agent providing emergency aid to the driver. Finally, another video shows a man on a stretcher being loaded into an ambulance.
During Sunday afternoon and part of Monday morning, his lawyer and his wife, Elizdar, unsuccessfully tried to obtain information about Garcés’s whereabouts and condition. The lawyer even posted a video on her Instagram account a few hours ago asking ICE to contact her.
After that, Lincoln-Goldfinch’s press contact, Fabiana Meléndez, confirmed to EL PAÍS that the lawyer was able to speak with Garcés. That is when she obtained details about his condition.
‘Mama, Immigration is chasing me’
Lincoln-Goldfinch had previously told a local outlet that Garcés left for work in the morning and around midday called his wife to report the incident. “He called screaming that he had been shot and was in a lot of pain and then hung up,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
A similar account was given by the migrant’s mother, Flor Pérez, from Venezuela. “He called me at 1.40 p.m., Venezuela time. He shouted: ‘Mama, Immigration is chasing me, they shot me’ [...] He hung up quickly to call his wife,” she told independent journalist Carlos Moreno by phone.
ICE, the most visible agency in President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant apparatus, said in a statement sent to EL PAÍS that the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are leading the probe into “the agent involved in a shooting against an undocumented migrant from Venezuela.” It added that Garcés entered the United States irregularly during the administration of Joe Biden and that he had a final order of removal. “His condition is stable and he is in federal custody awaiting deportation,” the statement said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said ICE requested assistance at about 12.50 p.m. local time regarding a pursuit of a blue Toyota Corolla. That agency added that its officers arrived after the shooting.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, meanwhile, called for an independent investigation. “While I’m angry and disappointed, I’m not surprised. This has happened in other cities. With the rogue nature of ICE and the chaos we’re seeing fomented by ICE, there’s no reason to be surprised,” the Democrat wrote on his X account.
“Though APD [Austin Police Department] was not involved in the shooting, I believe that there needs to be an investigation that APD assures is clear-eyed, as complete as possible, and independent,” he added.
The incident comes just over two months after ICE shot immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston during an operation in which he was not the target, as the Department of Homeland Security itself acknowledged. The Mexican died that same day and the incident sparked large protests in the city. The case is being reviewed by a grand jury at the request of the Harris County district attorney’s office, the largest in the state and where the shooting occurred.
As in this Sunday’s case in Austin, Salgado’s son, Ronaldo, did not receive immediate information about his father’s medical condition when he went to the scene. He went to the hospital where he believed his father was being treated and was not informed of his condition there either. By then, DHS had already briefed the press about the Mexican immigrant’s death.
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