After ICE shooting, Venezuelan man’s quick release from Austin hospital raises questions
By Uriel J. García, Zach Leggio and Alex Nguyen, The Texas Tribune
September 22, 2026
About four hours after Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was admitted to an Austin hospital with a gunshot wound, the Venezuelan man was discharged Sunday and taken 135 miles south to an immigration detention center where some detainees have complained about inadequate medical care.
The bullet fired by a federal immigration officer is still lodged to his back, according to Garces Perez and his immigration lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch. After he began “experiencing an inability to move his arm,” Garces Perez was taken to another hospital for treatment, the lawyer said.
His lawyers, Democratic leaders and immigrant advocates have questioned whether Garces Perez received proper medical treatment and whether he was taken into custody before he could fully heal.
Garces Perez was working as a DoorDash delivery driver when he was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a traffic stop in North Austin. His lawyer said that Garces Perez did have a work permit and a driver’s license but expired in December. After he was taken to the hospital, Lincoln-Goldfinch said she and Garces Perez’s wife were not allowed to visit him.
On Monday evening, after he called into a news conference to say that he has not received any medication, he was transported to a second hospital after he complained of losing feeling on the left side of his body, his lawyer said.
“Wilber tells me that after he spoke publicly, guards at the Pearsall detention center forcibly took the tablet from his hands, revoked his communication privileges, and moved him out of the infirmary into an isolated room with a flat bed that cannot be adjusted like a medical bed,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said.
By Tuesday afternoon, Garces Perez, 28, of Venezuela was back at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall.
Doctors who have treated immigrants injured by ICE say that while Garces Perez’s treatment may seem harsh, it appears that medical staff and ICE officers treated him like any other person in this situation.
DHS released a statement Tuesday saying Garces Perez is receiving “medical care around the clock, including pain medication.” The statement also said ICE officers do not control the medical treatment for the bullet lodged in his back.
“ICE does not and would not advise, nor be the authority on, a medical procedure for an illegal alien at a hospital,” the statement said.
Marc F. Stern, a doctor and an assistant professor at the University of Washington, said he doesn’t like to see any patient recovering in a detention center, but unless ICE forced the medical staff to release Garces Perez prematurely it is common for patients with a lodged bullet to be discharged. He added that in many cases attempting to remove a bullet does more harm than good.
“We’d all like to believe the system works but under the current administration the rule of law has suffered a lot,” Stern said. “So do we have the confidence that all of this is happening correctly? I would hope so.”
Brian Elmore, a doctor who has treated injured immigrants in Mexico and is a current Global Emergency Medical fellow at the University of Virginia, said he recently discharged a Maryland man who also had a bullet lodged in his back. He said it is important to have a post-discharge treatment plan.
“In somebody that isn’t detained, these patients would have close follow-up with their trauma surgery team and be discharged with pain medication,” he said. “The problem with these patients is that they are often discharged in conditions where they receive inappropriate or absent medical care.”
Naureen Shah, director of immigration policy with the American Civil Liberties Union, recently wrote a report titled “Agents of Chaos and Cruelty,” which she said documents ICE’s pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations under the Trump administration.
Shah 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.
The ACLU recently filed a $10 million claim against the ICE facility in Pearsall, saying a client experienced medical neglect and mistreatment in detention.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, said Tuesday that ICE should immediately release Garces Perez, who has a pending removal order and has applied for political asylum, so that he can “receive medical treatment.”
“Mr. Garces Perez is not receiving the care he needs in detention,” Casar wrote in a letter signed by over 100 Democratic members of Congress. “While he remains in the United States, he should be allowed to receive medical care and pursue all legal options available to him. Finally, Mr. Garces Perez and the ICE agent responsible must remain in Texas until a thorough, independent investigation into the shooting is complete.”
Gov. Greg Abbott, who has ordered state police to work with ICE officers operating in Texas, has not directly discussed the shooting. Asked about the shooting at an unrelated Tuesday news conference, the governor said details remain “sketchy.”
“There’s not full information yet available about exactly what happened and what the status is right now,” he added. “But we’ll work to stay on top of it.”
Tuesday afternoon, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and the city’s police chief, Lisa Davis, addressed questions about Garces Perez’s medical treatment.
Speaking at a news conference, Davis said it is hospital policy to not allow family members to visit patients who are detained while receiving medical attention, but she could not speak to why Garces Perez was released when he was.
“If APD were to bring someone in that was under arrest and detained … if families showed up, no, they would not be allowed to come back and talk with that person,” Davis said. “That is what the protocol is.”
Watson said that when he arrived at Dell Seton Medical Center, he was concerned to hear that Garces Perez’s wife was not given any update on his condition and was seeking clarity on rumors that Garces Perez had died.
“By the time I got down to the hospital, he had obviously already been taken away from the hospital by the ICE officers, and nobody had been told that — I may have been the first one that was told,” Watson said. “That wasn’t part of the hospital operation, it was because of my pursuit of trying to get to the truth about what was going on.”
During the news conference, Davis also showed new footage from an off-duty APD detective’s dashcam and cell phone camera, as well as the bodycam footage from APD officers who arrived on the scene.
The off-duty detective’s footage first showed Garces Perez pulled over and two ICE officers speaking with him. Davis said there was a brief vehicle pursuit, which APD is still investigating, that finished under an overpass where the shots were fired.
Davis confirmed that there is no evidence of a foot chase.
The bodycam footage was muted as APD officers first interact with the ICE officers, but the audio began as APD officers removed Garces Perez from his vehicle and provided medical help. The ICE officers had not provided medical assistance prior to APD’s arrival. The footage was muted to preserve APD’s investigation, Davis said.
APD officers then called 911, and emergency medical services arrived three minutes later.
Elmore questioned why ICE officers didn’t immediately provide aid.
“Any law enforcement officer should have basic first aid skills and been capable of assessing Wilber for life-threatening injuries and administering aid,” he said.
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Correction, Sept. 22, 2026, 8:38 p.m. Central: A previous version of this story stated that Wilber Rafael Garces Perez had a valid driver’s license and work permit. His lawyer confirmed that his license and work permit expired in December 2025.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.