ICE Accuses Wilber Rafael Garces Perez of Hitting Agent With Side Mirror, Files Assault Charge

Ten days after being shot in the back by a still-unidentified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez still has not had surgery to remove the bullet from his body and is still suffering from “a lot of pain,” one of his attorneys, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said on social media Wednesday morning, Sept. 30.

“He is still in detention. It’s been one week since he was shot, he still has the bullet in his body,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said. “He’s still in a lot of pain. He has a fractured clavicle, limited mobility, and we have concerns about sepsis, permanent damage, and limits in mobility without surgery.”

The attorney has previously reported that the bullet had traveled through Garces Perez’s upper back to fracture his clavicle, and that he has suffered serious bruising, swelling, and loss of sensation on his left side while being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall.

The bullet was not removed the day of the shooting because it is close to his spine, Garces Perez told members of the press over the phone at a Sept. 21 press conference.

The Chronicle has continued to follow up with ICE and DHS about why force was used to detain Garces Perez, why he has still not had surgery to remove the bullet, and if any surgery has been scheduled. “The investigation remains ongoing,” an ICE spokesperson wrote on Sept. 29.

But now, ICE has come forward with its own narrative of Sept. 20’s events. On Monday, Sept. 28, federal attorney Justin Simmons filed a criminal complaint for “assaulting, resisting, interfering, and impeding a federal officer” against Garces Perez, claiming that after federal officers initiated a traffic stop, he had struck one of the agents with his vehicle’s side mirror.

In the criminal complaint affidavit and an associated press release, ICE now claims several things: that Garces Perez has a final order of removal from an immigration judge, and that he was shot for allegedly attempting to hit an ICE agent with his car. 

The press release also alleges that during an initial traffic stop prior to the shooting, “officers asked Garces-Perez to place his vehicle in park and step out – orders which he allegedly ignored. … After further direction from the officers in Spanish, Garces-Perez abruptly closed his window and drove off, striking one of the ICE ERO officers in the torso with the driver’s side-view mirror.”

The affidavit claims that after pulling away from the traffic stop, Garces Perez “led them on a high-speed chase through a commercial and residential area.” The start of the vehicle pursuit to the time Garces Perez was shot lasted from about 12:43pm to 12:51pm on Sept. 20, it states.

“While one of the officers lost sight of Garces-Perez during the pursuit, the other ICE ERO officer caught up to Garces-Perez, who allegedly attempted to strike the officer with his car, causing the officer to fire his pistol,” the press release states.

In the affidavit, ICE also admits that one of their agents’ body cameras (identified as D.F.) was turned on and recording the initial traffic stop with Garces Perez. They admit D.F. had turned his camera off prior to the moment Garces Perez was shot by his partner (L.G.), who was not wearing a body camera. It also admits that the two SUVs driven by the two involved ICE agents were unmarked.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Garces Perez and his defense team appeared in federal court in Austin to challenge ICE’s version of the day’s events. Garces Perez sat in the courthouse in a wheelchair, his left arm in a sling. At times, he was visibly wincing and touching his shoulder.  

Wilber Rafael Garces Perez’s attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch speaks to press after a hearing at the Federal Courthouse on September 30 Credit: John Anderson

In an extensive cross-examination of Rick Bazan, the DHS agent who was assigned to investigate the case, Bazan admitted that he only interviewed D.F. and never spoke with L.G., the ICE agent who actually shot Garces Perez. He gave no reason as to why L.G. was not interviewed. He also gave no reason why L.G. was not wearing a body camera, nor why D.F. turned off his camera after the initial traffic stop.

The federal government had also submitted a still screenshot of D.F.’s body camera footage as evidence that L.G. had been struck with the side mirror. The contact between L.G.’s torso and the vehicle is not actually visible or obvious in the photo, Garces Perez’s defense pointed out. Bazan also admitted that he had not heard confirmation from L.G. that he was actually struck by the mirror.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell announced his findings at the conclusion of the hearing: He found the federal government’s evidence not “convincing and clear” that Garces Perez poses a danger to the community, but did find it convincing that he poses a flight risk. 

According to one of Garces Perez’s attorneys, Kristin Etter, the judge thus denies Garces Perez’s team’s request for bond to release him back to immigration detention to continue to pursue a habeas corpus case, and Garces Perez will remain in federal criminal custody. 

Since the shooting, Austinites have continued to express their outrage. On Sunday, Sept. 27, hundreds gathered to protest at the site where he was shot, the intersection of Anderson Lane and Research Boulevard under Highway 183. A Mexican flag had been tied to the overpass height sign, and “Fuck ICE!” scrawled across it. At roughly the place where Garces Perez had been shot, someone had left a glass bottle with orange flowers. 

“Today, we must raise our voices against every detention center profiting from the torture, death, and abduction of our migrant brothers and sisters,” a representative of the Austin Sanctuary Network said in a megaphone. “They are all at risk of losing their lives due to gross neglect as [is] Wilber, whose life-saving surgery is being refused after seven days.”

“He deserves to live! He deserves to live! He deserves to live!” protesters chanted in response.

Under the overpass, we spoke to a North Austin public school teacher who wished to remain anonymous. The day after Garces Perez was shot in her neighborhood, she told us, “only about half of our students showed up to school.”

“ICE has also been going at various times to our schools and grabbing people in the parking lots,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I’ve had students who have told me, ‘My dad was picked up by ICE. So if you see me not really paying attention, it’s because we don’t know what happens next. He was our main breadwinner, and we don’t know where we go from here.’”

ICE’s presence in North Austin, which has increased in recent months, is “destabilizing entire communities,” the teacher continued.

“It’s an attack against the entire community. The fact that they’re here, where they know that there’s a large population of immigrants and refugees – nothing about this is shocking, which I think is the most heartbreaking part,” she said. “All we can do is keep showing up.”

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