As ICE again attempts to escape accountability, Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez remains in detention and in need of urgent medical care
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, the unarmed Austin community member who was shot and seriously injured by an ICE recruit last week, still has a bullet lodged in his back. But rather than allowing him to fully recuperate from his wound in a hospital, the federal government is refusing to release the DoorDash driver from ICE detention and is instead charging him with a count of resisting and assaulting a federal officer, The Texas Tribune reports.
“Garces Perez appeared before a federal court in Austin on Tuesday morning to be formally charged,” the outlet reported. “Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, his lead attorney, said she saw him at the courthouse and he ‘was clearly very confused and distraught. He was in a lot of pain. He had not been given pain medication and he did not understand what was happening.’”
Neither does his family, or an outraged Austin community that has been crying for accountability following this latest violent incident.
MASS DEPORTATION AGENTS REMAIN OUTSIDE THE LAW, FLOUTING ACCOUNTABILITY BY FAILING TO USE THEIR BODY CAMERAS
Following the horrific shooting killings of Houston dad Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Maine dad Johan Sebastián this past summer, ICE Acting Director David Venturella stated that all officers would be equipped with body cameras by the end of August. But The Washington Post reports that the recruit who shot Garcés Pérez in the back was not using his government-issued body camera, which will only complicate a thorough investigation into the shooting.
Federal immigration officials “did not respond to questions about the officer’s background and training, or why he wasn’t using the device while making an arrest.”
Keep in mind that ICE has effectively said it will not release body camera footage if it makes the agency look bad. This is a policy it has already been practicing, advocates note. “After more than 6 months, DHS has still not released footage from the body cameras worn by four officers at the Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti,” the ACLU said in August. “There have also been serious problems with compliance with and enforcement of body camera rules. Last year, a Chicago judge ordered immigration agents to use body cameras in their operations there, but compliance was questionable.”
‘ENOUGH OF THIS PIECEMEAL INFORMATION’
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, an attorney for Garcés Pérez, told Baptist News that his case “‘is an example of the government playing games with the life of a human being who matters very much to us and to his family, and we see it clearly for what it is.’ She called on the Trump administration to release the full body camera footage of the ICE encounter with Perez ‘so we understand what happened from start to finish,’” the report continued.
“Enough of this piecemeal information,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “Enough of this narrative that only gives us pieces and parts of the story. And enough of treating Wilbur like his life doesn’t matter, like his pain doesn’t matter, like whether he lives or dies doesn’t matter.”
GUN VIOLENCE BY DHS HAS TAKEN THE LIVES OF MULTIPLE IMMIGRANTS AND U.S. CITIZENS
Gun violence perpetrated by mass deportation agents has killed at least five people and seriously hurt at least nine others since the federal government’s deployments against major U.S. cities began in June 2025, according to data compiled by America’s Voice. These victims have included U.S. citizens. Chicagoan Marimar Martinez, shot five times by Border Patrol last October, “was accused of using her car to assault federal law enforcement before the case was dismissed in November,” NBC News reported.
Like in Garcés Pérez’s case, the agent who shot Martinez was also not wearing his assigned body camera. Subsequent evidence would also reveal the agent sending texts where he boasted about shooting the Montessori school teacher. “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” he wrote. “In a separate message, he shared a news article about the shooting and wrote, ‘Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes,’” NBC News continued.
INTENTIONAL NEGLECT AND BRUTALITY IN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION CUSTODY
Lincoln-Goldfinch and Garcés Pérez’s family members all say that the 28-year-old delivery worker – who arrived here with permission under a Biden-era parole program – has been in medical distress since ICE forcibly removed him from a hospital in order to detain him at a GEO Group-operated camp “where some detainees have complained about inadequate medical care,” The Texas Tribune reported. Naureen Shah of the ACLU “said that even if a doctor discharged him, the detention center Garces Perez is in is not ideal. ‘It’s probably one of the worst places to take a person who has a bullet lodged to his back,” she said.
This is in no way isolated. 2025 was the deadliest year for immigration detention in decades, with at least 31 deaths in camps across the country. In just the first week of this year, ICE reported three in-custody deaths. One was that of Geraldo Lunas Campos, whose death was ruled a homicide by medical examiners due to asphyxia from neck and torso compression. One Congressional investigation has uncovered more than 1,000 allegations of human rights abuses in immigration detention, including medical neglect, physical abuse, sexual assault, and denial of basic necessities.
FOR ICE, ONLY THEIR CAMERAS OR VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH ARE ALLOWED
While ICE has been prevented from impeding the investigation into Garcés Pérez’s shooting after a judge temporarily blocked them from kicking him out of the country, a separate court has ruled that Garcés Pérez must remain in detention for now. “With a bullet still lodged in his back, Garcés Pérez appeared in court in a wheelchair,” NBC News reported. “Wilber was visibly in pain throughout today’s hearing,” said Lincoln-Goldfinch. “Medical professionals have warned that he needs surgery and could face permanent loss of mobility and the risk of serious infection if he does not receive appropriate treatment.”
“The hearing also included testimony from Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Rick Bazan, who signed the criminal complaint charging Garcés Pérez with assault,” NBC News continued. “The defense argued that Bazan, whose agency is the investigative arm of ICE, could not confirm whether the ICE agent was actually hit by the car mirror since no federal investigators interviewed the agent directly. Bazan also couldn’t explain why the officer allegedly struck by the mirror was not wearing a body-worn camera.”
The report notes that a second officer with the recruit who shot Garcés Pérez was using his body camera, but then turned it off when they began to chase him.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR WILBER RAFAEL GARCÉS PÉREZ?
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Garcés Pérez’s advocates continue their fight to keep him in the U.S – and to get him the medical care that he desperately needs. “But whatever happens next in the criminal case, one fact does not change: Wilber is a human being who was shot, remains in custody with a bullet in his body, and needs medical care,” Lincoln-Goldfinch continued. “Our priority is making sure he gets it.”
