Venezuelan Delivery Driver Shot by ICE in Austin Detained with Bullet in Back, Lawyer Says

A 28-year-old Venezuelan national who was shot by an immigration officer while working a DoorDash delivery shift in Austin, Texas, was subsequently transferred from a hospital to a detention center with a bullet still lodged in his back, according to his attorney. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, representing the injured man, spoke during a Monday news conference alongside local officials to detail the incident and demand accountability from federal immigration authorities.

Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch stated that the shooting occurred early Sunday afternoon after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer sideswiped the vehicle driven by Wilber Rafael Garces Perez. Following the shooting, Garces Perez was transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation. However, roughly four hours later, his family learned he had been moved to the South Texas Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, which is approximately a two-hour drive from Austin.

During the press conference, Garces Perez participated briefly via a phone call, speaking in Spanish to express that he was experiencing significant pain. He explained that medical personnel had not removed the projectile because it was located dangerously close to his spine. Furthermore, Garces Perez asserted that he was not receiving adequate medical care, noting that he lacked access to pain medication and was being held in a cold room without a proper bed.

According to CBS News, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the ICE officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave. This measure is standard protocol for personnel connected to pending investigations. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement indicating that Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, is spearheading the inquiry into the shooting alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The DHS spokesperson also stated that Garces Perez entered the United States under the Biden administration and carried a final order of removal. Lincoln-Goldfinch clarified that her client arrived from Venezuela in 2024 utilizing the Biden-era CBP One application, a platform that facilitated entry for numerous asylum-seeking migrants at designated southern border ports following scheduled appointments. Although Garces Perez held a work permit and pursued asylum, he received a deportation order in absentia after missing a court appearance because the hearing notice had been mailed to a previous address.

DHS previously terminated the parole status of individuals processed via the CBP One app and called for their immediate departure. Although a federal judge in Boston ordered the legal status of those migrants to be restored, the administration maintained that the executive branch holds the authority to decide who remains inside the country. U.S. Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat representing portions of Austin, criticized federal immigration operations during the news conference and pointed out that Garces Perez possessed no criminal record.

Rep. Casar condemned the presence of ICE in Austin and noted that immigration arrests targeting individuals without criminal records reached record levels in July, citing federal data. He argued that the community would be safer if immigration enforcement ceased certain local operations. Alongside Casar, Lincoln-Goldfinch and other community leaders urged federal authorities to ensure full transparency by releasing any available body camera footage related to the encounter, emphasizing that the public needs to review the evidence independently.

The incident in Austin follows several other high-profile enforcement events involving federal immigration officers across the country. In July, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston while federal personnel pursued his vehicle as he transported a construction crew. Also in July, an ICE officer shot a Colombian man named Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine, an event where an independent senator reported that the individual was not the intended target. Additionally, local police reported that federal officers attempted to arrest a man in Evanston, Illinois, who was later identified as a U.S. citizen and sustained injuries during the encounter.

DHS stated that the investigation into the Austin shooting remains an active and developing situation, with additional information to be released to the public as it becomes available.