Federal prosecutors have charged the Austin man an ICE agent shot earlier this month with a single rely of resisting and assaulting a federal officer, in response to court docket paperwork.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan nationwide, was shot by an ICE officer in Austin on Sept. 20. He was taken to Dell Seton Medical Middle, the place he was launched and brought into ICE custody three hours later with the bullet remaining in his again. He has since remained at a detention heart in Pearsall.
Federal prosecutors say that Garces Perez was first pulled over by ICE officers after they’d noticed him exiting a restaurant and recognized him as having a closing order of removing.
The officers recognized themselves as immigration brokers and Garces Perez handed them his Texas driver license, the court docket paperwork say. One officer was sporting a physique worn digicam that captured the incident. The opposite officer, the one which ultimately shot Garces Perez, was not sporting a digicam.
In keeping with Garces Perez’s assertion to investigators, he knew that he could be detained, so he requested to park in a distinct location. The officers and Garces Perez give conflicting statements over when emergency lights have been activated and if the officers struck Garces Perez’s automobile.
Garces Perez disregarded the officers’ instructions to exit the automobile and he fled the scene. As he pulled away from the scene, his driver’s aspect mirror hit one of many officers within the torso, in response to the legal criticism.
After a quick automobile chase, one ICE officer claims that Garces Perez tried to strike him together with his automotive, which is when the officer, standing exterior the automobile, shot into the automotive and struck Garces Perez within the again.
President Donald Trump received a second time period in 2024 vowing to crack down on immigration. Throughout his second administration, immigration brokers, who typically are masked, have shot no less than two dozen individuals. A minimum of six, together with three U.S. residents, have died. Lots of the shootings concerned brokers firing at individuals in transferring automobiles, which legislation enforcement consultants mentioned is often prohibited or discouraged by native police.
The court docket paperwork outlining the legal case in opposition to Garces Perez don’t identify the 2 brokers concerned, however check with them by the initials “L.G.” and “D.F.”
The federal authorities has withheld the identification for many immigration brokers concerned in shootings since Trump returned to workplace. The rising tally of deaths by the hands of nameless federal brokers has ignited outcries by Democrats, the victims’ family members and residents to determine them. On Monday, The Texas Tribune recognized the federal immigration agent who witnesses say fired via an open van window and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July.
Because the Austin capturing, a number of members of Congress and advocacy teams have known as for Garces Perez’s launch from detention on account of his medical wants, which they declare are usually not being adequately addressed by ICE. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, visited Garces Perez final Wednesday and described him as in excessive spirits however in ache and in want of surgical procedure.
“This particular person wants a health care provider, not a deportation or a detention heart,” Casar mentioned in a information convention final week.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garces Perez’s lead lawyer, was not instantly out there for remark Tuesday. She beforehand mentioned he entered the U.S. legally in 2024 through the CBP One app and utilized for asylum. Data present that he had acquired a removing order in August 2025, which Lincoln-Goldfinch says was despatched to the improper tackle. A movement to rethink was denied in July 2026. The lawyer added that his work allow expired in December 2025.
Garces Perez is ready to look in court docket on Wednesday in San Antonio after a decide briefly halted his deportation final week.
A detention listening to is ready for Friday, Oct. 2 concerning the brand new legal expenses. If convicted, he faces as much as 20 years in jail, in response to the Division of Justice.
The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace declined to remark past a press launch saying the fees.
This text first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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In a federal legal criticism, DHS says Wilber Rafael Garces Perez knew he was fleeing federal brokers and his automotive’s sideview mirror struck an officer.
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