Migrant shot by ICE in Austin will finally undergo surgery to remove bullet
US Congressman Joaquín Castro of Texas said that the operation would take place this Thursday. The Venezuelan national has gone 11 days with a bullet lodged in his back
Eleven days after a raid in which he was shot by an immigration agent, Venezuelan national Wilber Garcés Pérez will finally undergo surgery this Thursday to remove the bullet from his back, U.S. Congressman Joaquín Castro of Texas reported.
“He is finally scheduled for surgery today. But ICE is refusing to let his wife be by his side,” the Democratic representative wrote on his X account. Together with Representative Greg Casar, he pressed the federal agency to provide the migrant with painkillers and to allow specialists at a hospital to evaluate him.
On September 20, an agent from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allegedly shot 28-year-old Garcés in the back, claiming the Venezuelan man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon after a chase to detain him. According to the account Garcés gave to the media, he did not intend to flee and knew he was going to be arrested. He said the officer ordered him out of the vehicle and he only asked to be allowed to park. When Garcés made a U-turn, the pursuit began and ended in a car crash and multiple shots being fired.
That same day, after the incident, Garcés was taken to a hospital in Austin, where doctors told him the bullet was lodged near his spine and that he would undergo preoperative tests before extraction. But in less than four hours and without explanation, Garcés was discharged and transferred to an ICE detention center in Pearsall.
Garcés’s lawyer, Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, said the migrant’s wound has been oozing blood since the incident and that he suffers intense pain. Two other doctors examined him on separate occasions. The last saw him in San Antonio a week ago and recommended surgery to prevent Garcés from suffering permanent mobility damage. ICE returned him to the detention center that same day.
On Wednesday, 10 days after being shot, the Venezuelan appeared before a federal court in Austin, where he faces criminal charges brought by the federal government alleging assault, resisting authority and impeding the work of federal officers during his arrest. Garcés arrived in a wheelchair, and reporters in the courtroom said he repeatedly gestured in pain.
Austin Judge Dustin M. Howell denied him the option of release on bond while awaiting trial. Lincoln announced Wednesday that Garcés would be transferred to a criminal jail, but said the legal team’s priority was to push for adequate medical care and the removal of the bullet.
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