EFE.— The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told EFE late Sunday that it is investigating an incident in which an ICE agent shot a Venezuelan migrant in the back, leaving him seriously injured and unable to communicate with his family or attorney.
Wilber Rafael Garcés, 28, was inside his vehicle and “in the middle of a delivery (through the food delivery platform) DoorDash” around noon Sunday in Austin, Texas, when “someone shot him in the back, below the neck,” his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on social media.
More than six hours later, the attorney and Garcés’ wife, who had unsuccessfully searched for him at the hospital, finally received confirmation that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had transferred him to a detention center. However, neither has been able to communicate with him, according to the attorney.
In statements to EFE, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said the agency is investigating the shooting “with assistance from the FBI” and that the migrant is “stable and in federal custody, pending deportation.”
Conflicting accounts of his entry into the United States
The spokesperson alleged that Garcés “entered the country illegally under the (former President Joe) Biden administration and was subject to a final deportation order.”
However, his attorney told EFE that although she has not yet spoken with her client to verify the information, she understands that “he entered the country through CBP One,” an application that allowed migrants to request legal entry into the United States to seek asylum under the Biden administration (2021–2025). Donald Trump eliminated the application shortly after taking office more than a year ago.
“They are going to have to give me access to him so I can provide more details (about how he entered the country). Right now, they are not allowing him to speak with either his attorney or his wife,” Lincoln-Goldfinch told EFE. She said she had seen photographs and a video showing how “they shot him in the back, below the neck.”
Austin City Council member Mike Siegel, who went to the scene of the incident, told EFE that an ICE agent stepped out of an unmarked SUV and fired toward Garcés’ parked vehicle.
A witness who asked to use the name Juan said he approached the vehicle and found Garcés in the driver’s seat.
“They handcuffed him, tore his shirt, and that’s when I saw he had two gunshot wounds in his back,” he told EFE.
Violent operations against migrants have increased during Trump’s second term. Federal immigration agents have shot and killed at least six drivers and injured 11 others during enforcement operations since Trump returned to the White House, according to a report The Washington Post published in July.
