Austin ICE Shooting Fuels Dispute Over Venezuelan Man’s Deportation

One of the country’s largest Hispanic civil rights organizations is urging immigration authorities not to deport the Venezuelan man wounded during an ICE pursuit in Austin, saying he is a crucial witness in the investigation into the shooting.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, issued the appeal Monday afternoon after an ICE agent shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez during a traffic stop. Garces Perez remained hospitalized in serious but stable condition. The incident has prompted protests in Austin and demands from local leaders for an independent investigation.

“Wilber is a victim of the shooting and the most important witness to it. You do not deport the key witness to your own officers’ use of force,” LULAC CEO Juan Peruano said.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who represents Garces Perez and his wife, said her client was making a DoorDash delivery when an “unmarked black truck sideswiped him.”

According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garces Perez did not realize the vehicle belonged to ICE. He then made a U-turn beneath the highway, after which agents continued following him.

“The truck chased him and sideswiped him again. And the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

She also alleged that Garces Perez did not receive adequate medical treatment and that the bullet remained lodged in his body for hours after the shooting.

“We learned that at 4:00 he still had a bullet lodged in his back. He was shot here in his back, and they didn’t take the bullet out, and they didn’t give him pain medication. And they transferred him to ICE, to a processing center, where he spent the night without a bed,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “There is absolutely zero justification for having shot him in the back of the neck. And this is why we’re calling for a stop to ICE traffic stops. ICE officers are over armed, overpaid, under trained and violent. They don’t know how to safely conduct traffic stops.”

Lincoln-Goldfinch also rejected the accounts offered by federal agents, arguing that ICE officials have not been truthful about the incident.

“We are fed up with ICE and DHS telling us lies about what has happened in these incidents where people are being murdered and shot,” she said. 

Rep. Lloyd Doggett backed Lincoln-Goldfinch’s criticism, saying federal immigration authorities have repeatedly provided false accounts.

“ICE has no credibility anymore. It lies. We know it lies. We’ve seen it demonstrated again and again, and we need the kind of independent structure to demand some accountability,” he said.

DHS sources confirmed to Fox News on Sunday that Garces Perez is a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who has a final order of removal.

The agency said Garces Perez entered the United States illegally during the Biden administration and was shot during a law enforcement operation.

“The illegal alien’s condition is stable, and he is in federal custody pending removal,” DHS said on X.