AUSTIN, Texas – Federal prosecutors have charged the Austin man an ICE agent shot earlier this month with a single count of resisting and assaulting a federal officer, according to court documents.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan national, was shot by an ICE officer in Austin on Sept. 20. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, where he was released and taken into ICE custody three hours later with the bullet remaining in his back. He has since remained at a detention center in Pearsall.
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Federal prosecutors say that Garces Perez was first pulled over by ICE officers after they had observed him exiting a restaurant and identified him as having a final order of removal.
The officers identified themselves as immigration agents and Garces Perez handed them his Texas driver license, the court documents say. One officer was wearing a body worn camera that captured the incident. The other officer, the one that eventually shot Garces Perez, was not wearing a camera. The court documents do not name the two agents.
According to Garces Perez’s statement to investigators, he knew that he would be detained, so he asked to park in a different location. The officers and Garces Perez give conflicting statements over when emergency lights were activated and if the officers struck Garces Perez’s vehicle.
Garces Perez disregarded the officers’ commands to exit the vehicle and he fled the scene. As he pulled away from the scene, his driver’s side mirror hit one of the officers in the torso, according to the criminal complaint.
After a brief vehicle chase, one ICE officer claims that Garces Perez attempted to strike him with his car, which is when the officer shot Garces Perez in the back.
Several members of Congress and advocacy groups have called for Garces Perez’s release from detention due to his medical needs, which they claim are not being adequately addressed by ICE. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, visited Garces Perez last Wednesday and described him as in high spirits but in pain and in need of surgery.
“This person needs a doctor, not a deportation or a detention center,” Casar said in a news conference last week.
Garces Perez is set to appear in federal court on Wednesday in San Antonio after a judge temporarily halted his deportation last week.
This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.