{"id":443404,"date":"2026-09-21T22:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T22:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/443404\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T22:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T22:46:12","slug":"man-shot-by-ice-officer-is-detained-in-texas-with-a-bullet-still-in-his-back-attorney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/443404\/","title":{"rendered":"Man shot by ICE officer is detained in Texas with a bullet still in his back, attorney says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Workers clear debris from an area near the site where a Venezuelan man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay) <\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A Venezuelan man shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention center in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, the man\u2019s attorney said.<\/p>\n

Speaking by phone during a news conference, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez said doctors didn\u2019t remove the bullet because it\u2019s near his spine. He said ICE pressed for him to be released quickly from the hospital so it could move him to a detention center. He said he had received no pain medication or treatment there, and had slept on the floor, before eventually being given a \u201cpill\u201d by a nurse on Monday.<\/p>\n

Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when his car was \u201csideswiped\u201d twice by ICE officers in an unmarked truck, immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

An ICE officer shot Perez<\/a> in the back of the neck before officers pulled him from his car, she said. He was taken to a hospital, Lincoln-Goldfinch said, but was released later Sunday into ICE custody with the bullet still inside him.<\/p>\n

\"\"A vehicle with a damaged door and broken window is left in the street after a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Aaron E. Martinez \/Austin American-Statesman via AP) \"\"Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, attorney for Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan man shot by an ICE officer, speaks during a news conference in Austin, Texas, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay) <\/p>\n

\u201cI am not doing well due to the gunshot wound, and I have not received the medical attention that I require,\u201d Perez said, speaking in Spanish over the phone as his wife translated during the news conference.<\/p>\n

Perez was being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said Perez told her in a prior phone call that he was being interrogated.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the U.S. illegally who \u201chad a final order of removal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeland Security did not immediately respond to email messages seeking further comment on the shooting.<\/p>\n

Perez entered the U.S. legally in 2024 as an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. She said a judge issued a deportation order for Perez after he missed a hearing in immigration court because the hearing notice was sent to a former address.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that being out of status would justify any of this at all,\u201d Lincoln-Goldfinch said of the shooting in a social media post.<\/p>\n

The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the U.S. during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. During the summer, it reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August \u2014 a first for the agency.<\/p>\n

Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Manuel Sandoval, left, talks to an Austin police lieutenant Joshua Muchnikoff at the scene where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Aaron E. Martinez \/Austin American-Statesman via AP) \"\"Protesters gather across the street from the scene where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (Aaron E. Martinez \/Austin American-Statesman via AP) <\/p>\n

Local advocates, leaders of the civil rights group the League of United Latin American Citizens and two Democratic congressmen who represent parts of Austin called during the news conference for the creation of an independent body to review use-of-force incidents by ICE and refer suspected crimes to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

They also urged Congress to ban ICE officers from making traffic stops, saying the officers are undertrained and too quick to resort to violence.<\/p>\n

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, has said he wants local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. Watson said it wouldn\u2019t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.<\/p>\n

The area beneath an overpass where a large crowd of protesters had gathered Sunday near the shooting scene was quiet Monday. Trash-filled plastic bags were left below concrete pylons marked with anti-ICE graffiti.<\/p>\n

Amid discarded police tape, people left candles, flowers and a sign that read \u201cJustice for Wilber.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers clear debris from an area near the site where a Venezuelan man was shot in his vehicle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1829,1724,865,3346,153150,153179],"class_list":["post-443404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-law-enforcement","tag-shootings","tag-wcm_id_31299784_","tag-wcm_id_31299791_"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}