Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Texas says he’s in pain and still has bullet in his back

AUSTIN, Texas — The Venezuelan man shot by ICE in Austin during a traffic stop spoke from immigration detention Monday and said he was in a lot of pain and still had a bullet lodged in his back.

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was shot early Sunday afternoon by an ICE officer while making deliveries as a DoorDash driver. He is being held in immigration custody at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas.

Garcés Pérez said by phone during a news conference Monday that he was shot near the clavicle and that he has not received the medical attention he needs. He said doctors did not remove the bullet because it was close to his spine and ICE was pushing the hospital to release him into the agency’s custody in a hurry.

Garcés Pérez said he arrived at the detention center around 4 a.m., where he complained about his ongoing pain. He said he did not receive medical treatment at the detention center or pain relief when he arrived until he was given an unknown pill Monday morning. He added that he had to sleep on the floor in a cold room.

Lawmakers, advocates and Garcés Pérez’s attorney demanded his release, alleging he was taken from a hospital into custody within four hours with a bullet still lodged in his back.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency to which ICE belongs, said in a statement late Sunday that Garcés Pérez was in stable condition and was in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.

A senior administration official told NBC News on Monday that Garcés Pérez did not have a criminal history beyond being in the country illegally.

According to Garcés Pérez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, he entered the country legally and was seeking asylum. She said Garcés Pérez told her he had let the immigration court know when he had a change of address, but a notice to appear in court was sent to an old address. Because of this mistake, Garcés Pérez missed his court hearing and was ordered deported in absentia, according to his attorney.

Lincoln-Goldfinch shared Garcés Pérez’s account of the shooting, saying he was making a delivery when “an unmarked black truck sideswiped him.”

“He didn’t know it was ICE, and he did a U-turn under the highway. The truck chased him and sideswiped him again, and the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car,” she said.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statements made during the news conference or for comment on earlier statements made by Lincoln-Goldfinch.

A social media video verified by NBC News captures the sound of tires screeching followed by a person exiting a dark-colored SUV as a blue sedan is stopped next to it, both vehicles facing each other. The sedan also appears to be damaged on the passenger side.

At least three gunshots are heard as the person approaches the sedan and runs up to it as it slowly lurches forward. The video shows the person standing next to the sedan’s driver’s side as it stops in front of an intersection.

DHS has not provided any information about whether the ICE officer involved was wearing a body camera or if Garcés Pérez was the target of an operation.

The shooting comes as ICE has greatly increased enforcement across the country this summer, making more than 50,000 arrests a month for the first time in its history in July and August.

It also comes two months after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, in Houston during an attempted traffic stop to conduct an immigration arrest. DHS has said Salgado Araujo was in the country illegally and attempted to run over agents, but it has not provided evidence of its claims.

About a week after the fatal shooting in Houston, another ICE officer shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, after a traffic stop. Neither man was ICE’s intended target during the immigration operations. (Source: NBC News)