--- title: "U.S. Charges Venezuelan Migrant Shot by an ICE Agent in Austin With Assault" description: "Wilber Garcés, a DoorDash driver with a 2023 deportation order, was wounded in the back during a Sept. 20 traffic stop." author: "rews desk" published: 2026-09-30T08:57:33Z modified: 2026-09-30T23:53:14Z url: https://rews.cc/a/u-s-charges-venezuelan-migrant-shot-by-an-ice-agent-in-austi-2d67f1 language: en tags: ["immigration", "ice", "police", "migrant", "austin", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # U.S. Charges Venezuelan Migrant Shot by an ICE Agent in Austin With Assault *Wilber Garcés, a DoorDash driver with a 2023 deportation order, was wounded in the back during a Sept. 20 traffic stop.* By rews desk · September 30, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/u-s-charges-venezuelan-migrant-shot-by-an-ice-agent-in-austi-2d67f1 ## In brief - Wilber Garcés Pérez, shot by an ICE agent in Austin on Sept. 20, was charged Tuesday with assault and impeding officers - The complaint says an agent’s body camera was turned off during the pursuit, leaving the shooting unfilmed - Garcés said by phone at a news conference that he had not fled and meant only to park his car - His lawyers say he left the hospital four hours after being shot, and the bullet is still lodged in his back - A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday The federal government on Tuesday charged a Venezuelan migrant with assault, resisting authority and impeding federal officers, 10 days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot him in the back during a traffic stop in Austin. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, a DoorDash driver who has lived in the United States for eight years, has been subject to a final order of removal since 2023. The nine-page criminal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas and obtained by El País, is signed by one of the two agents involved and incorporates testimony from both. Mr. Garcés made his initial court appearance on Tuesday, but his lawyers were not aware of the complaint; they learned of it only after he failed to show up for a scheduled meeting with them. Per the complaint, the two agents, identified by the initials L.G. and D.F., were in two unmarked SUVs on Sept. 20, and only one carried a body camera. They spotted Mr. Garcés’s blue Toyota sedan parked in front of a restaurant where he was picking up an order to deliver, and a database check tied the car to the Venezuelan and his removal order. When he came out, they followed. After the agents turned on their lights, L.G. blocked the sedan with his SUV. D.F. activated his body camera, and the video shows L.G. in uniform identifying himself as an ICE officer, the complaint says. “Garcés lowered the window slightly and spoke with L.G. in English. L.G. asked for Garcés’s driver’s license, which he handed over.” The agents told him to turn off the car and get out. Instead, the document says, he discussed moving and parking the car in Spanish — “The tone of the conversation was cordial and not aggressive” — then rolled up the window and drove off. “L.G. tried to avoid contact with the car but Garces’ driver’s side-view mirror struck L.G. in his torso as it drove off,” the filing says. The agents gave chase at what the complaint calls high speed. At some point, D.F. turned off his body camera — after losing sight of his partner and of Mr. Garcés — and radioed for help stopping the migrant. No camera records what happened next. Mr. Garcés gave his version less than 48 hours later, calling by phone into a news conference. “I didn’t flee the scene, as ICE agents said. I was going to park the car to be able to get out, but they crashed into me from behind and then they shot me,” he said. The officer had refused to let him move the car out of the avenue: “He tells me, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to leave it here.’” When he made a U-turn to park, the pursuit began; the agents rammed his car, and then the shot was fired. The complaint includes a phone call between the agents afterward: “L.G. told D.F. that Garcés had tried to run him over with his vehicle and that he had fired his gun.” Mr. Garcés was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, where doctors prepared for surgery. He was discharged four hours later without it and moved to a detention center two hours from Austin. The bullet is still lodged in his back. When his lawyers finally saw him, “he was suffering from considerable pain and dizziness, and needed painkillers that he had not been given,” according to an email from the office of the lawyer Kate Lincoln Goldfinch. “Instead of providing him with the vital medical attention he needs, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and the government are playing with his life.” The Austin group Community Not Commodity started a campaign to cover his medical and legal bills. “We are seeking to provide medical, legal and personal aid to him and his family in this extremely difficult time,” its description reads, noting that he delivered Walmart packages and often worked late. The campaign raised $18,800 of a $21,500 goal within 72 hours on GoFundMe. A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, when a judge will decide whether Mr. Garcés stays in custody or is released before a possible trial.