Venezuelan man shot by ICE officer in Texas is charged with assault

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez has disputed the government’s account of what led to his shooting during a Doordash delivery in Austin, Texas.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez holds his shoulder after being shot by an ICE officer in Austin, Texas, on September 20 [Austin Police/Handout via Reuters]

A Venezuelan asylum seeker who was shot in the back by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Texas is facing a federal assault charge, after prosecutors accused him of striking the officer with his car’s side-view mirror.

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, appeared in federal court in Austin on Tuesday, where he was charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

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The charge stems from a September 20 encounter that began while Garces Perez was making a DoorDash food delivery near a shopping centre in Austin, the Texas state capital.

A federal complaint filed on Monday says immigration officers noticed that Garces Perez’s car had its emergency lights flashing, and they ran a database check. They found it was registered to Garces Perez, who was subject to a final order of removal from the US.

When the officers approached, Garces Perez handed over his driver’s license through a partially opened window but did not get out of the car, the complaint says. He asked the officers to wait until his wife could arrive to retrieve the vehicle.

Court documents describe the exchange up to that point as “pleasant and not aggressive”.

About a minute later, however, court documents say Garces Perez “abruptly” closed his window and drove off, striking one of the officers in the torso with his driver’s side mirror.

That officer chased Garces Perez in his own vehicle and caught up with him a short time later. In the complaint, the officer alleges that Garces Perez then tried to drive into him, prompting him to open fire.

There is no publicly available footage showing the events described in the complaint, including the shooting.

Videos, however, have circulated online showing the shooting’s aftermath, with Garces Perez injured in his car.

The complaint relies on unreleased body-camera footage from one of the two ICE officers who stopped Garces Perez.

The second officer was not wearing a body camera, according to the affidavit. That officer says he was struck by Garces Perez’s side mirror and later shot him.

Garces Perez, however, gave federal investigators a different account of the moments immediately before he was shot.

He told investigators that, after a brief chase, a law enforcement SUV struck his car, causing it to spin around, according to the affidavit. He said the officer then opened fire, shooting him in the back.

Garces Perez has been held in a detention facility in south Texas since the shooting.

His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on Sunday the bullet was still lodged in his body and that he has a fractured clavicle. In a social media post, Lincoln-Goldfinch explained that his supporters were worried he could develop sepsis or suffer permanent damage if he didn’t undergo surgery soon.

The Department of Homeland Security has argued, however, that Garces Perez is receiving adequate medical care.

Garces Perez’s legal team is also seeking to stop his removal from the US.

The Venezuelan national entered the US in 2024 through CBP One, an online programme expanded under former President Joe Biden to allow asylum seekers to make appointments with immigration authorities at the US-Mexico border.

Trump ended the programme on his first day back in office, accusing the app of contributing to an immigration crisis in the US. His administration has since relaunched CBP One as CBP Home, a self-deportation portal.

Lincoln-Goldfinch has said Garces Perez was legally seeking asylum in the US and had a valid work permit. She has asserted that he was ordered to be deported after missing an immigration court hearing because the notice had been sent to an old address.

Garces Perez is due back before a federal immigration judge on Wednesday for a separate hearing on whether he can remain in the country.

The case comes amid a surge in immigration enforcement during Trump’s second term, with ICE reporting more than 50,000 arrests in both July and August.

威尔伯·拉斐尔·加尔塞斯·佩雷斯对政府关于他在德克萨斯州奥斯汀送外卖时遭枪击事件的描述提出了异议。

9月20日，在德克萨斯州奥斯汀，威尔伯·拉斐尔·加尔塞斯·佩雷斯被一名移民执法局官员开枪击中后捂住肩膀。[奥斯汀警方/路透社供图]

一名委内瑞拉寻求庇护者在德克萨斯州被美国移民和海关执法局 (ICE) 官员从背后开枪击中，检察官指控他用汽车的后视镜击打该官员，他因此面临联邦袭击指控。

28岁的威尔伯·拉斐尔·加尔塞斯·佩雷斯周二在奥斯汀联邦法院出庭，他被控袭击、拒捕和妨碍联邦官员执法。如果罪名成立，他可能面临最高20年的监禁。

（共4条记录，此为第1条）据官员称，一名移民及海关执法局（ICE）官员在德克萨斯州奥斯汀开枪击伤一名男子。

德克萨斯州发生四起抗议活动，起因是一名移民执法局特工枪杀了一名委内瑞拉男子（列表2/4）

名单3/4：一名男子被移民执法局特工枪击，背部中弹，目前被拘留。

伊利诺伊州4名美国公民遭移民及海关执法局（ICE）错误逮捕后受伤，名单如下（共4名）：

该指控源于 9 月 20 日的一次冲突，当时 Garces Perez 正在德克萨斯州首府奥斯汀附近的一家购物中心送 DoorDash 外卖。

周一提交的一份联邦诉状称，移民官员注意到加尔塞斯·佩雷斯的汽车警示灯闪烁，于是进行了数据库查询。他们发现这辆车登记在加尔塞斯·佩雷斯名下，而加尔塞斯·佩雷斯已被下达最终驱逐令，将被驱逐出境。

据起诉书称，当警员靠近时，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯透过半开的车窗递出了驾照，但他没有下车。他请求警员稍等，直到他妻子赶来取车。

法庭文件将当时的交流描述为“愉快且不具攻击性”。

然而，法庭文件显示，大约一分钟后，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯“突然”关上车窗，驾车离开，驾驶侧后视镜撞到了一名警官的躯干。

那名警官驾驶自己的警车追赶加尔塞斯·佩雷斯，不久后便将其抓获。在起诉书中，该警官称加尔塞斯·佩雷斯随后试图驾车撞向他，导致他开枪射击。

目前没有任何公开的视频资料可以证实起诉书中描述的事件，包括枪击事件。

然而，网上流传的视频显示了枪击事件的后续情况，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯在车内受伤。

该投诉依据的是两名拦截加尔塞斯·佩雷斯的移民执法局官员之一的未公开的执法记录仪视频。

根据宣誓书，第二名警官当时没有佩戴执法记录仪。该警官称他被加尔塞斯·佩雷斯的后视镜撞到，随后开枪射击了佩雷斯。

然而，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯向联邦调查人员提供了他被枪击前那一刻的不同说法。

据宣誓书显示，他告诉调查人员，短暂追逐后，一辆执法部门的SUV撞上了他的车，导致他的车旋转。他说，随后警官开枪，击中了他的背部。

自枪击事件发生以来，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯一直被关押在德克萨斯州南部的一所拘留所。

他的律师凯特·林肯-戈尔德芬奇周日表示，子弹仍然留在他的体内，而且他的锁骨骨折。林肯-戈尔德芬奇在社交媒体上发文解释说，他的支持者担心，如果他不尽快接受手术，可能会引发败血症或造成永久性损伤。

然而，国土安全部辩称，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯正在接受充分的医疗护理。

加尔塞斯·佩雷斯的法律团队也在寻求阻止他被驱逐出境。

这位委内瑞拉公民于 2024 年通过 CBP One 进入美国。CBP One 是一个在线项目，在前总统乔·拜登的领导下得到扩展，允许寻求庇护者与美国-墨西哥边境的移民当局预约。

特朗普重返总统职位的第一天就终止了该项目，指责该应用程序加剧了美国的移民危机。此后，他的政府将CBP One重新命名为CBP Home，一个自助遣返门户网站。

林肯-戈尔德芬奇表示，加尔塞斯·佩雷斯在美国合法寻求庇护，并持有有效的工作许可。她断言，他因缺席移民法庭听证会而被下令驱逐出境，原因是通知被寄到了旧地址。

加尔塞斯·佩雷斯将于周三再次出庭，接受联邦移民法官的单独听证，以确定他是否可以留在美国。

此案发生之际，正值特朗普第二任期内移民执法力度加大，美国移民及海关执法局 (ICE) 报告称，7 月和 8 月的逮捕人数均超过 5 万人。