Venezuelan Man Shot by ICE in Austin Returns to Detention; Judge Sets Hearing

A Venezuelan man who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin, Texas, is back in federal detention after being hospitalized a second time with a bullet still lodged in his back, his attorney said Tuesday.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was shot on Sunday. A federal judge has ordered him to appear in person at a hearing on Sept. 30 in San Antonio, following a lawsuit filed by his lawyers seeking to halt his removal from the United States.

Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch said in a social media video Tuesday that Perez remains in significant pain. She said he was taken back to the hospital around 5 p.m. Monday after losing sensation in one arm, and was returned to ICE custody around midnight.

Perez is being held at a federal detention facility in Pearsall, a remote town in South Texas, according to U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who has joined other party members in criticizing the shooting. The encounter has drawn protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.

According to his attorney, Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice. He was shot, taken to a hospital, and then released into ICE custody with the bullet still in his back.

Court filings from Perez's lawyers said he was forced to sleep on a concrete floor at an ICE temporary processing center before being transferred to the Pearsall facility at 4 a.m. Monday. A temporary restraining order request from his attorneys also said he was interrogated without legal representation present.

On Monday, Perez called into a news conference and told reporters he had received no pain medication and had slept on the floor. Castro said in a social media post that he planned to visit Perez on Wednesday to check on his condition and demand his release.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to emailed questions Tuesday. The agency has released limited information and has not said what prompted the shooting. In an earlier statement, it said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the country illegally who "had a final order of removal."

On Tuesday, the department responded on social media to a video of Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar saying Austin would be safer once ICE leaves, calling it a "ludicrous statement." The agency said no amount of criticism would slow its enforcement work.