A Venezuelan man is out of the hospital and back in an immigration detention center after surviving a shooting by an ICE agent on Sunday, a Texas Congressman said.
Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) said Tuesday that Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, has a bullet lodged in his back and has lost feeling in his left side. Castro said ICE “forced” Garces Perez to leave the hospital and returned him to the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall.
On Monday, Garces Perez spoke by phone at a news conference held by his attorney and other advocates, stating he was in pain and in need of medical attention.
His attorney said he was driving for Doordash in Austin Sunday when an unmarked vehicle sideswiped his car and he was later shot. Video recorded by a bystander Sunday showed police surrounding Garces Perez as he sat outside of his car with a bullet wound visible in his upper back.
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have said little about what led up to the shooting, except to say that it occurred during a “law enforcement operation” and it involved someone who “illegally entered our country under the Biden administration and had a final order of removal.”
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An attorney for Garces Perez said he was seeking asylum and was subject to removal because of a court paperwork mix-up which caused him to miss a hearing. His attorney filed a petition in federal court this week seeking his release from detention and to stop his deportation.
Rep. Castro said he and fellow Texas Congressman Greg Casar plan to visit Garces Perez in detention Wednesday “to check on his condition and demand his release.” Rep. Casar said he and more than 100 other members of Congress sent a letter demanding medical care for Garces Perez and the immediate release of video footage of the shooting.
