Federal prosecutors in Texas just laid down a heavy legal hammer against Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan delivery driver shot in the back by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Austin on September 20. Garces Perez now faces up to 20 years in federal prison for allegedly assaulting, resisting, and impeding a federal officer.
The story is a mess of conflicting accounts, missing body cameras, and high-stakes immigration politics. If you want to understand how a routine DoorDash run turned into a federal shooting case, you have to look past the press releases and dig into the court filings.
Two Completely Different Stories of the Austin Shooting
The core dispute comes down to what happened in those few tense seconds outside an Austin restaurant.
According to the federal criminal complaint and a Department of Justice affidavit signed by a Homeland Security investigator, agents spotted Garces Perez's car parked with its emergency flashers on. A quick database check showed the vehicle belonged to a man with a final order of removal.
When agents moved in to execute the stop, Garces Perez provided his driver's license through a cracked window. Court records describe the initial interaction as surprisingly calm. It was pleasant, non-aggressive, and conducted entirely in Spanish.
Then things snapped.
Prosecutors claim Garces Perez abruptly rolled up his window and hit the gas. As he drove away, his driver's side view mirror allegedly struck an agent's torso. That officer—identified in documents only by initials—fired his pistol through the back right window, shooting Garces Perez in the upper back.
Garces Perez tells a radically different version. He told investigators that an unmarked SUV suddenly cut him off on the side of the road without clear signals. He claims he declined to step out immediately because he wanted officers to wait just a minute so his wife could come retrieve his car. Furthermore, he maintains that law enforcement struck his car during a brief chase, spinning it before the agent opened fire.
The Missing Body Camera Controversy
Transparency is supposed to be standard operating procedure in modern law enforcement. Here, it's glaringly absent.
The ICE agent who fired the shot wasn't wearing a body camera. While a second agent involved in the pursuit wore one, that camera only captured the scene after Garces Perez had already been shot.
ICE leadership previously claimed that field officers nationwide would be equipped with body-worn cameras. Yet, this high-profile incident exposed the gaps in that rollout. Instead of raw, unedited footage from the shooting officer, investigators had to rely on screenshots from previously unreleased angles and stills showing the officer's hands on the car hood just before the vehicle pulled away.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the lead attorney representing Garces Perez, didn't mince words about the government's evidence. She called on the Department of Health and Human Services and DHS to release all unedited footage, accusing officials of playing games with her client's life and safety.
How an Asylum Seeker Ended Up With a Deportation Order
Behind the criminal charges lies a complicated immigration backstory.
Garces Perez entered the United States in 2024 through the CBP One smartphone app. This program allowed migrants to schedule appointments with U.S. authorities to request asylum legally. He managed to secure a valid work permit and was trying to make a living driving for DoorDash in Texas.
So how did he end up with a final order of removal?
His legal team explains that a judge issued the deportation order after Garces Perez missed an immigration court hearing. The catch? The notice for the hearing was sent to an old, incorrect address, meaning he never knew he was supposed to be in court. Thousands of asylum seekers fall through these administrative cracks every year, turning routine bureaucratic errors into life-altering immigration enforcement targets.
What Happens Next in Federal Court
Following the shooting, Garces Perez was rushed to Dell Seton Medical Center. Just three hours after being released from the hospital—with the bullet still lodged in his back—he was booked straight into federal immigration custody.
He appeared in an Austin federal courtroom looking exhausted, visibly in pain, and deeply confused, according to his defense team. A federal judge set a detention hearing to determine whether he will remain behind bars while fighting both the new assault charges and his pending deportation.
If convicted on the federal assault charge alone, he faces up to two decades in prison.
This case isn't just about a traffic stop gone wrong. It highlights the volatile intersection of everyday gig work, opaque federal enforcement tactics, and an immigration system breaking at the seams. Keep a close eye on the court proceedings as the defense pushes for complete video transparency.
