Get you up to speed: ICE officer who shot Venezuelan man in Texas wasn’t wearing a body camera, sources say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan delivery driver, in Austin, Texas, while he was working for DoorDash. Garces Perez was hospitalised following the incident and has since been taken into ICE custody, with federal officials stating he has a deportation order.
The Department of Homeland Security has stated that all ICE officers will be equipped with body cameras by the end of September. A U.S. District Court Judge has scheduled an in-person hearing for Garces Perez’s habeas claim for September 30, which will prevent ICE from deporting him until that date.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that all ICE officers would be equipped with body cameras by the end of September, but the absence of a body cam during the shooting has raised concerns about accountability. U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia has ordered an in-person hearing regarding Garces Perez’s habeas petition, blocking any potential deportation until at least September 30.
What remains unclear — It is not clear why the ICE officer involved in the shooting was not wearing a body camera despite a directive to equip all officers by the end of September.
ICE officer who shot Venezuelan delivery driver in Texas was not wearing a body camera
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Venezuelan delivery driver in Austin, Texas, on Sunday was not wearing a body camera at the time of the shooting, sources familiar with the investigation told WTX US News.
An ICE officer shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old native of Venezuela who federal officials said has a deportation order, in the upper torso on Sunday afternoon while Garces Perez was working for DoorDash, according to local authorities and his attorney.
The officer who shot Garces Perez joined the ranks of ICE last year, after previously serving as a border patrol officer within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, law enforcement sources told WTX US News.
The shooting was the latest involving federal agents enforcing President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and has sparked protests in Texas, as well as calls for accountability and a transparent, independent investigation.
The Austin Police Department on Tuesday released dash cam and body camera footage from an off-duty officer and a responding officer who arrived at the scene after the shooting, but neither shows the lead-up to the incident. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson have both previously stated that local officers were not involved in the shooting itself.
The lack of body camera footage from the ICE officer who shot Garces Perez — a detail first reported by The Atlantic — is likely to escalate concerns about the shooting.
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Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had said earlier this month that all ICE officers would be equipped with body cams by the end of September.
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to inquiries on the ICE officer not wearing a body camera.
Garces Perez’s medical condition has also been subject of controversy. Following his hospitalization on Sunday, the Venezuelan man was taken into ICE custody, with DHS alleging that he’s in the U.S. illegally with a final deportation order.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas said Garces Perez was transferred back to a hospital on Monday after complaining about not having feeling on the left side of his body and believing that the bullet was still lodged in his back.
On Tuesday, Castro said Garces Perez had been transferred back to ICE’s South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, noting he’s scheduled to visit the man Wednesday.
“Today, he tells me he is receiving only Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain,” Garces Perez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, wrote on X on Tuesday. “He remains in isolation, on a flat bed, and without the tablet he previously used to communicate.”
Lincoln-Goldfinch filed a habeas petition seeking Garces Perez’s release from ICE custody on constitutional grounds. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Garces Perez to attend an in-person hearing on the habeas claim next Wednesday, Sept. 30, effectively blocking ICE from deporting him until then.
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