Newly released surveillance video captures the frantic pursuit of a Venezuelan migrant in Austin over the weekend, moments before an immigration officer shot him.
The footage appears to show at least two vehicles racing after a speeding car driven by 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, with sirens activated. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the video is authentic to Fox News.
Garces Perez was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during the incident. He was later arrested and transferred to immigration detention.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, an undocumented Venezuelan migrant, was shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. (Wilber Garces/Facebook)
His attorney, Katie Lincoln Goldfinch, said officers in an unmarked vehicle tried to force her client off the road while he was making DoorDash deliveries. According to her account, Garces Perez was pursued, sideswiped, shot in the back of the neck and removed from his car.
Evidence from local authorities disputes parts of that description. The surveillance footage does not appear to show visible damage to Garces Perez’s vehicle, while body-camera video from Austin police officers who arrived at the scene shows them helping him out of the car rather than forcibly dragging him from it.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was shot while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers attempted to take him into custody in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. Body-camera footage released by the Austin Police Department on Tuesday shows Garces Perez inside his vehicle after the shooting, shortly before his arrest. (Austin Police Department)
In a statement shared on Facebook Wednesday, Goldfinch said her client is being held in isolation in the infirmary of an ICE detention center. She said he remains “gravely ill” and still has a bullet lodged in his body.
“Our immediate demands are clear: restore Wilber’s communication privileges and take him back to the hospital. He needs access to appropriate medical care,” she wrote.
The shooting and arrest have prompted fierce criticism from Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have described ICE as a “rogue” agency accused of “terrorizing our cities and threatening the safety of our residents.”
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, visited the ICE detention facility Wednesday to meet with Garces Perez. In a video posted on X, the congressman condemned the agency’s response to the incident.
Demonstrators protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Earlier that day, a federal ICE officer shot and wounded a person in North Austin. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“ICE has been trying to blame all of this on him without releasing any of the video footage, any of the evidence,” Casar said.