Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the attorney representing the Venezuelan man shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Austin over the weekend, told reporters during a press conference Monday that her client still has a bullet in his back, is bleeding, and hasn’t undergone surgery.
Despite receiving minimal medical care, hospital officials at Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin still released her client, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, back into ICE custody hours after being shot in the back on Sunday by an ICE agent in North Austin, the attorney added.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Perez is being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, about 50 miles southwest of San Antonio.
“He was shot in his back, and they didn’t take the bullet out,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “They didn’t give him pain medication, and they transferred him to an ICE processing center where he spent the night without a bed.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch also said ICE personnel have been interrogating Perez despite his condition.
The update on Perez’s condition comes as Texas Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, continue to call on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release Perez so he can receive proper medical care. Casar and others are also demanding that DHS release all body cam footage and any other video from the incident to the public.
“I don’t care if you’re Democrat or Republican, we all believe the federal government should not be allowed to shoot you and then disappear you from the country so that no one can be held responsible,” Casar said.
Although Casar’s colleague, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, said during the press conference that he understands the public furor over federal officials’ treatment of Perez, he urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
“I want ICE out of Austin. I want it out of the lives of these hardworking people,” Doggett said. “But any protest that does not bring more people to our side to let them understand the damage that ICE is doing, any protest that is about throwing rocks and venting anger does not help us. It only helps Trump and those who are running ICE.”
Doggett’s comments came after police arrested several protesters in Austin on Sunday night at the site of the shooting.
‘There was no foot chase.’
DHS officials have said Perez was shot after a “small foot pursuit” in North Austin.
However, Lincoln-Goldfinch shared a drastically different version of events with reporters.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client was delivering food for DoorDash at around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday when an “unmarked black truck” suddenly sideswiped him. Not knowing it was ICE, he made a U-turn to pull over, but was sideswiped again, she added.
“The agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck, and pulled him out of the car,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “ICE has put out a statement saying there was a foot chase. We have video evidence that there was no foot chase.”
Perez was then taken to a nearby hospital, where neither his wife nor Lincoln-Goldfinch was allowed to see him.
It wasn’t until Austin Mayor Kirk Watson arrived at the medical facility that Perez’s wife and the attorney were informed that the patient had already been released into ICE custody.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said she was finally able to speak to her client at 10 a.m. Monday morning that Lincoln-Goldfinch was able to talk to her client. The League of United Latin American Citizens paid the retainer for her to represent Perez.
Legal status
DHS maintains that Perez is in the country illegally and was the subject of a removal order. However, Lincoln-Goldfinch told reporters that the truth is more complicated.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said her client entered the country using the CBP One app, which the Biden administration used to handle asylum seekers, and was legally admitted. She also said Perez had a work permit, was actively seeking asylum and had been regularly appearing at immigration court hearings.
She suspects the court issued a removal order because, after Perez changed his address with the immigration court, it mailed a summons to the wrong address, leading to a removal order in absentia.
“The court is notorious for sending notices of hearings to the wrong address,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “So, it appears that is what happened to him. That’s why there was a removal order, and we are working on that.”
Perez is at least the 42nd person shot by ICE since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025, according to the New York Times.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
Related Stories
ICE officer shoots, injures man in Austin, officials say
Trump’s war on immigration leaves us a weaker nation
More young people getting involved with South Texas civil rights group amid Trump immigration crackdown
