Texas ICE shooting victim returned to detention with bullet still lodged
A Venezuelan man who was shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Texas has been returned to a federal detention centre after being taken to hospital a second time, with a bullet still lodged in his back, his attorney said. A federal judge has also ordered Wilber Rafael Garces Perez to appear in court next week after a lawsuit sought to stop his removal from the United States.
Perez, 28, was shot on Sunday in Austin. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said in a video posted on social media on Tuesday that he was "still in a lot of pain". The shooting has drawn criticism from Democratic leaders and led to protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.
According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Perez was making a DoorDash delivery on Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice. He was then shot and taken to hospital, but was later released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back. Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez returned to hospital on Monday evening after complaining of pain and was taken back into ICE custody around midnight.
Court filings by Perez's lawyers said he was made to sleep on a cement floor at an ICE temporary processing centre. The filings said ICE transferred him at 4 am on Monday to a federal detention facility in Pearsall, a remote town in South Texas. A temporary restraining order filed by his attorneys also said he was questioned without a lawyer present. Lincoln-Goldfinch later wrote on social media that he was taken back to hospital around 5 pm on Monday after he began losing sensation in his arm.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to emails on Tuesday and has released little information about the case. It has not said what led to the shooting. In a statement issued early on Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the US illegally who "had a final order of removal". On Tuesday, the department responded on social media to a video of Texas Democratic Representative Greg Casar, who said Austin would be safer once ICE left, calling it a "ludicrous statement". The agency added, "No amount of smears and false narratives will slow down ICE from doing its job by removing dangerous illegal aliens from our communities."
On Monday, Perez joined a news conference by phone and told reporters he had received no pain medication and had slept on the floor. Texas Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro said Perez was being held in Pearsall and posted on social media that he planned to visit him on Wednesday to "check on his condition and demand his release". In response to the lawsuit, US District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Perez to appear in person at a hearing in San Antonio on September 30, as the case over his detention, removal and treatment moves forward.
