A Venezuelan man, who was shot by an officer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has returned to the hospital after being taken to a Texas detention center with a bullet still lodged in his back. His attorney confirmed that he was back in the hospital by Monday night.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, has said he wants local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. Watson said it wouldn’t be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.
“Now, we have to make sure he fully recovers, is reunited with his family, and gets to tell law enforcement the full story of how he was shot in the back by ICE,” he said. Perez said earlier Monday that ICE officers didn’t ask him to stop or turn on any flashing lights until after they had sideswiped him. He said he did a U-turn and was trying to park when the officers rammed his car and shot him in the back of the neck.
Because the hearing notice was sent to a former address, she said a judge issued a deportation order for Perez after he missed a hearing in immigration court.
Perez’s attorneys said he was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year. Local advocates, leaders of the civil rights group the League of United Latin American Citizens and two Democratic congressmen who represent parts of Austin called during the news conference for the creation of an independent body to review use-of-force incidents by ICE and refer suspected crimes to prosecutors. They also urged Congress to ban ICE officers from making traffic stops, saying the officers are undertrained and too quick to resort to violence.
He was shot and taken to a hospital, she said, but was released later Sunday into ICE custody with the bullet still inside him.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday when his car was “sideswiped” twice by ICE officers in an unmarked truck, immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters earlier Monday.
