A Venezuelan DoorDash driver who was shot by ICE agents in Texas has been transferred to a detention center, despite still having a bullet lodged in his back and the agency pushing for his rapid release from hospital.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, said doctors were unable to remove the bullet, which is lodged near his spine, before he was placed in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas on Monday.
‘I am not doing well due to the gunshot wound and I have not received the medical attention I require,’ Perez said by phone during a news conference from the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall.
Perez had been completing a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when his car was ‘sideswiped’ twice by ICE agents driving an unmarked vehicle, immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters on Monday.
Agents initially pulled him over at about 12.45pm on Sunday. A source told the New York Times that Perez allegedly drove away from the officers, who caught up with him shortly afterward.
Perez said the officers did not ask him to stop or activate flashing lights until after they had sideswiped his car. He said one officer then approached, identified himself and asked for his immigration documents.
When Perez asked why he was being stopped, the agent ordered him out of the vehicle. Perez said he agreed to leave the car but asked to move it off the road so someone could collect it later.
The officer refused, according to Perez. He said he made a U-turn and tried to park, but the agents rammed his vehicle again and shot him after it came to a stop.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, said doctors could not remove the bullet lodged near his spine before he was transferred to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas on Monday
Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, pictured above, said Perez was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when ICE agents in an unmarked car ‘sideswiped’ his vehicle twice
Perez said ICE officials pushed for his rapid release from hospital so he could be transferred to a detention center
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez was taken to hospital before being released into ICE custody later that day, with the bullet still lodged in his body.
According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Perez previously said he had been interrogated.
Perez said the agency pressured hospital staff to release him quickly so he could be taken to a detention center.
He said he received neither pain medication nor treatment while in hospital and was made to sleep on the floor before a nurse gave him a ‘pill’ on Monday.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain unclear, while the Department of Homeland Security has released little information about what happened.
Video footage reviewed by the Times shows an officer getting out of his vehicle and approaching Perez’s Toyota as it began moving forward. Three shots were fired before the car slowly came to a stop.
Carlos, a 60-year-old witness, told the outlet that Perez said he had been shot because he did not apply the brakes.
In a statement released Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man who was in the US illegally and ‘had a final order of removal.’
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson called for local police to participate in the shooting investigation, saying it would be inappropriate for ICE to investigate the incident alone
Perez entered the US legally in 2024 under the CBP One program implemented under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to set up appointments with US authorities in asylum cases
Perez’s attorneys said that the migrant is an asylum seeker with a valid work permit, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch
Perez entered the US legally in 2024 under the CBP One program implemented under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to set up appointments with US authorities in asylum cases, Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
The program was ended on President Donald Trump’s first day in office.
Perez’s attorneys said that the migrant is an asylum seeker with a valid work permit, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch.
A deportation order was issued by a judge after Perez missed a hearing in immigration court due to the hearing notice being sent to a former address.
‘Not that being out of status would justify any of this at all,’ Lincoln-Goldfinch said on social media.
Kirk Watson, Austin’s mayor, called for local police to be involved in the investigation into the shooting and said it wouldn’t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.
The incident comes amid Trump’s continued crackdown on immigration, as at least four people have been fatally shot by federal agents during ICE operations this year.
Over the summer, around 50,000 monthly arrests took place in July and August – marking a first for the agency.
Our News Outlet reached out to The White House, the Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment.
