Venezuelan Wilber Garcés denounces medical negligence after being shot by ICE agents in Texas
From a detention center in Pearsall, Texas, 29-year-old Venezuelan migrant Wilber Garcés has raised his voice to recount the traumatic incident that changed his life. Garcés, who still has a bullet lodged near his spine after being shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, reports that he has not received the necessary medical attention following the altercation.
The incident occurred last Sunday north of Austin, while Garcés was performing home delivery tasks for the DoorDash application. According to his testimony, he was intercepted by a black pickup truck without police markings. After an initial exchange, the officers opened fire on his vehicle, striking him in the back.
I think he is a normal person. I asked them why they were stopping me, that I have everything in order. I made a U-turn, he started chasing me, and the officer, thinking I was going to escape, crashed again and shot me.
Wilber Garcés
Reporting medical care irregularities
After the attack, Garcés asserts that the agents did not provide him with immediate assistance. He was taken to a local hospital where, according to his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, doctors chose not to remove the projectile, citing urgency, and discharged him shortly thereafter. Immediately after leaving the medical center, he was placed in federal custody and transferred to a detention center.
The legal background of the case
The case of Garcés, who arrived in the United States in 2024 through legal immigration processes, has been complicated by an administrative error. Although he had a work permit and an ongoing asylum process, a change of address not correctly registered in the system caused him to not receive the notification for his last court hearing.
- Failure to appear at said appointment resulted in an “in absentia” deportation order issued by an immigration judge.
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that it is investigating the incident.
- Federal authorities maintain that the agents’ actions were part of a police operation, describing the affected individual’s immigration status as irregular.
This episode has generated a wave of rejection among activists and local legislators, who are demanding clarity regarding the use of force by the officers and a thorough review of the detainee’s health conditions.
