Venezuelan man shot by ICE agent in Texas says bullet remains lodged in his back

A 28-year-old Venezuelan man who was shot and wounded by a federal immigration agent in Texas said he remains in pain and is being held at an immigration detention centre with a bullet still lodged in his back.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez spoke by telephone to a news conference in Austin held by his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who introduced him as her client. Speaking in Spanish, Perez said he was bleeding and was not receiving adequate medical care at the facility, and that he had been sleeping on the floor.

"I'm not doing well because of the gunshot I received," he told reporters listening on a speakerphone.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez was being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center, roughly 130 miles southwest of Austin, and was undergoing questioning by agents.

Perez said he had been working as a DoorDash food delivery driver on Sunday when his car was sideswiped by agents. According to his account, the agents did not identify themselves and did not activate lights or a siren, and one of them shot him while he was still inside his vehicle. He said there had been no foot chase.

Austin police said on Sunday that Perez had run from the agents.

Neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, responded to requests for comment on Monday. In a written statement on Sunday, DHS said Perez was in the United States illegally and had a final order of removal, but did not provide details about the circumstances of the shooting.

Citing two unnamed people said to be familiar with the federal investigation, the New York Times reported on Monday that ICE agents were in Austin checking licence plates when they discovered Perez had a deportation order. The agents pulled him over at about 12:45 p.m. local time, identified themselves and told him he would be arrested, after which he allegedly fled in his car, leading to a short chase, a sideswipe and the shooting.

Lincoln-Goldfinch, speaking on CNN, said that account "doesn't match" what Perez told her, though she did not provide details on whether he had been stopped by ICE agents before he was shot.

Perez said he was released from a hospital within four hours of arriving, and that a doctor treating him told him ICE agents were in a hurry to transfer him to a detention centre.

The shooting comes amid heightened scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement. Immigration officials have been involved in multiple shootings this year, including the killing of two US citizens in Minnesota, which prompted a widespread backlash. More than 50 people have died in ICE detention since President Trump returned to office last year.