{"id":867409,"date":"2026-10-01T19:30:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867409\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T19:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T19:30:29","slug":"judge-keeps-immigrant-delivery-driver-shot-by-ice-in-custody-for-alleged-assault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/867409\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge keeps immigrant delivery driver shot by ICE in custody for alleged assault"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car<\/a> by a federal immigration agent in Texas will remain in custody on charges that he assaulted<\/a> an officer while trying to evade arrest, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Judge Dustin Howell said that the case against Wilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez<\/a>, 28, should proceed after prosecutors presented body-worn camera footage of the encounter in Austin, in which Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez allegedly struck a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with his driver\u2019s side mirror.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez is charged with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His case has sparked widespread outrage across the Texas capital city and brought renewed criticism from Democrats of President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive crackdown on immigration.<\/p>\n

With a bullet still lodged in his back, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez appeared in court in a wheelchair. His attorneys said he still urgently needs medical care, 10 days after being shot. He also wore a sling on his arm and needed help putting on a headset to listen to a translation of the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The defense called the charges against Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez \u201cretaliation\u201d and argued that the camera footage was inconclusive because it didn\u2019t fully capture the moment when he allegedly tried to flee.<\/p>\n

\"DoorWilber Rafael Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez.Courtesy Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch<\/p>\n

The hearing also included testimony from Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Rick Bazan, who signed the criminal complaint charging Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez with assault. The defense argued that Bazan, whose agency is the investigative arm of ICE, could not confirm whether the ICE agent was actually hit by the car mirror since no federal investigators interviewed the agent directly. Bazan also couldn\u2019t explain why the officer allegedly struck by the mirror was not wearing a body-worn camera.<\/p>\n

Footage provided Wednesday in court shows officers pulling Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez over Sept. 20 in Austin, where he was making deliveries for DoorDash.<\/p>\n

The video showed Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez giving officers his drivers license through a crack in his window and then asking in Spanish if he can park his car so that a relative could come retrieve it. The officer demanded Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez get out of the car multiple times, to which he asked if he could park his own car so a family member could come retrieve it. After a back and forth, Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez abruptly and rapidly drives off.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors show video but not of the shooting itself<\/p>\n

Prosecutors presented a video from cameras at a nearby business showing the ensuing high-speed chase through residential streets. The shooting itself was not captured on the footage shared in court.<\/p>\n

The federal officer who shot Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez wasn\u2019t wearing a body-worn camera. The immigration officer who did have a camera was driving in a separate car and turned the camera off during the pursuit.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez said he was struck by a law enforcement SUV and spun around before he was shot. Federal officers told investigators, however, that Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez attempted to strike an officer with his car at the end of the chase before the unidentified officer fired his weapon.<\/p>\n

The accusations against Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez recall previous claims made by immigration agents after other high-profile shootings similarly accusing drivers of weaponizing their vehicles. In a handful of cases, the allegations have been undermined or walked back after the release of body-worn camera footage, drawing renewed scrutiny about the DHS\u2019s reliance on vehicular stops<\/a> to execute arrests.<\/p>\n

Lawyer accuses ICE of denying him medical treatment<\/p>\n

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, one of Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez\u2019s immigration attorneys, accused ICE of denying him medical treatment for his bullet wound.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE\u2019s conduct has been so egregious, that physicians, nurses, medical ethicists and health advocates have come together to demand his release,\u201d she said outside court after the hearing.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez entered the U.S. in 2024 using CBP One, a program begun under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to schdule appointments with U.S. authorities to be considered for asylum. President Donald Trump ended the program<\/a> on his first day back in office.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, according to his lawyer. She said a judge later issued a deportation order after Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez missed an immigration court hearing because the notice had been sent to a former address.<\/p>\n

Judge Howell said he denied Garc\u00e9s P\u00e9rez bond on the basis that he could be a flight risk to Venezuela, where he has a child.<\/p>\n

His attorneys have filed a lawsuit<\/a> seeking to prevent his removal from the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 A Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car by a federal immigration agent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-867409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}