An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot an immigrant from Venezuela in his vehicle on Sunday in Austin, Texas. It was the latest violent encounter between federal agents and people in cars as the Trump administration continues its mass deportation campaign crackdown.
The Venezuelan man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, who was shot in the back, was taken to a hospital and later released into ICE custody.
Mr. Garces Perez, in a call on Monday from the detention center in Texas where he is being held, described to reporters the shooting and the injuries he had sustained. He said his clavicle was broken and that a bullet remained lodged near the back of his neck .
He was briefly hospitalized again on Monday, his lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said.
“I am not doing well because of the gunshot wound I received,” Mr. Garces Perez, speaking in Spanish during his call with reporters. “I have not received the necessary medical attention.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security disputed several of Mr. Garces Perez’s claims and said he was receiving appropriate medical care.
Mr. Garces Perez has told his immigration lawyer that he entered the United States in 2024 seeking asylum and later got a work permit. At some point he moved, and a hearing notice was sent to his old address. He hadn’t known that he had an immigration hearing and hadn’t gone, which led to the deportation order, his lawyer said.
On Tuesday, a federal judge scheduled a hearing for next week to determine whether Mr. Garces Perez should be deported.
“Sanctuary politicians and the mainstream media have wasted no time in spreading lies about an ICE officer-involved shooting of an illegal alien in Austin, Texas,” Markwayne Mullin, the D.H.S. secretary, said in a statement.
The shooting was the second by an ICE agent in Texas in recent months. Since last year, more than 20 people have been fired upon by ICE agents across the country, some fatally. Nearly all were in their vehicles.
As in many of the these shootings, politicians, protesters and political groups called for an independent investigation.
Here’s what we know.
Mr. Garces Perez said his vehicle had initially been hit by an ICE S.U.V.
In his call with reporters on Monday, Mr. Garces Perez said he had been making deliveries for DoorDash when an S.U.V. tried to bump his car. He had assumed it was an aggressive driver and kept driving.
Then, the S.U.V. hit his car and turned on its police lights, he said. Mr. Garces Perez said an ICE agent had approached him, identified himself and insisted that Mr. Garces Perez exit his car and provide immigration documents.
Mr. Garces Perez said he had asked why he was being stopped and if he could pull his car off to the side of the road for someone to get it later. The officer said “no,” but Mr. Garces had pulled his vehicle around anyway, to park, he said.
He was shot after the car was stopped, he said. An ICE agent had gone into his car and turned off the ignition before he was pulled out and told to wait for an ambulance, he said.
“I couldn’t move,” Mr. Garces Perez said. “I was practically dizzy.”
Federal officials have offered conflicting accounts. Two people familiar with the incident said on Monday that ICE agents were checking license plates in northwest Austin, where Mr. Garces Perez was making DoorDash deliveries, when they discovered that he had a deportation order on file.
Around 12:45 p.m., the agents pulled Mr. Garces Perez over and told him they were going to arrest him. The two people said that Mr. Garces Perez fled in his car, leading to a chase.
Several videos posted on social media showed the shooting and the moments after, where Mr. Garces Perez was holding his shoulder without any signs of medical assistance.
A federal judge will determine if Mr. Garces Perez should be deported.
Court records showed that Mr. Garces Perez had asked a federal judge to block his deportation and order his release. The judge, Orlando L. Garcia of the Western District of Texas, scheduled a hearing for Sept. 30 and ordered Mr. Garces Perez to appear in person.
But there are continuing concerns about the injuries sustained by Mr. Garces Perez, who is being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, about 55 miles south of San Antonio.
He was taken to a hospital in San Antonio on Monday after he complained that he was not able to move his left arm, his lawyer said. He was released from the hospital at midnight on Tuesday and taken back to Pearsall.
Ms. Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a post on X that after Mr. Garces Perez talked to reporters, guards at the detention center took his tablet and moved him out of the infirmary and into an isolated room with a flat bed.
D.H.S. denies Mr. Garces Perez’s accusations.
In a statement on Tuesday, Homeland Security said that Mr. Garces Perez’s claims about his medical care and immigration status were false.
They said that Mr. Garces Perez was receiving medical care, including pain medication.
D.H.S. also said that his work permit had expired last year and that he had been ordered removed because he did not show up for his hearing.