A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of a 28-year-old Venezuelan national after an ICE officer shot him during an Austin stop, locking in his presence for a Sept. 30 hearing while protests and political pressure mounted.
Fox News reported that Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, described as an illegal immigrant with a final order of removal, was wounded over the weekend in North Austin while working a DoorDash delivery.
His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said agents pursued him after a U-turn under a highway, then used force that left a bullet still lodged in his body. Authorities have said he faces a final removal order. Investigators have not publicly released a full official justification for the shooting.
The legal fight now sits at the center of a larger clash over immigration enforcement, witness claims, medical care in custody, and how fast the government can carry out a removal that courts already finalized.
Lincoln-Goldfinch described a vehicle chase that turned violent. She said a truck pursued Perez, sideswiped him, and that agents then exited and fired.
"The truck chased him and sideswiped him again. And the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car."
She has said Perez remains in a lot of pain, still needs medical care, and that the bullet has not been removed. On Facebook, she framed the court order in plain terms.
"That means Wilber cannot be deported in the meantime."
She added that her office secured a temporary block while the case moves forward and that the judge ordered Perez present for the Sept. 30 hearing. "For now, we have secured a temporary block on his deportation while his case moves forward," she wrote, and said the team would keep fighting to protect his rights.
Perez has not been quoted directly in public remarks beyond what relatives and counsel have relayed. No public results have been released naming the officer who fired.
Reuters reported that the shooting occurred Sunday and that Perez remained in ICE detention days later with the bullet still in his back. His mother, Flor Perez, described a video call moments after the gunfire.
"They crashed into my car and shot me."
Flor Perez said her priority was treatment: "What matters to me is that they take him to a hospital and treat him." DHS, for its part, described a targeted vehicle stop and said resisting or evading officers is dangerous.
That custody-and-care dispute now feeds the court fight. Lincoln-Goldfinch has argued the removal order followed notice sent to an old address even though an updated address had been provided to the court. Authorities still maintain the final order of removal stands.
Similar detention fights have landed in federal court before, including cases where a federal judge ordered ICE to free a key witness tied to a fatal Houston shooting.
Protesters gathered in Austin on Sept. 20, 2026, after the ICE-involved shooting. Captions tied the demonstration to an agent shooting a person earlier in North Austin.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza sent a letter Tuesday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Director David Venturella. Garza asked that Perez be allowed to remain in the United States pending an investigation into the shooting.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, and more than 100 other members of Congress also wrote Mullin and Venturella. They demanded Perez be released from ICE detention for medical treatment, that evidence be preserved, and that he not be removed.
"Mr. Garces Perez is a key witness to this shooting, and given ICE's history of obscuring the facts in similar investigations, he must not be removed."
Multiple Democrats branded ICE a "rogue" agency they accused of "terrorizing our cities and threatening the safety of our residents." Fox News Digital reached out to ICE and DHS; no response is stated in the available account.
The political framing collides with another local enforcement reality, including cases such as an Austin shooting spree suspect identified as an illegal immigrant already on probation and held in ICE custody.
The officer who fired was a new ICE recruit with prior U.S. Border Patrol experience and years in law enforcement. Training records show he completed a 256-hour Deportation Officer Training Program in August 2025, then took more operational and legal instruction through 2026.
His pistol qualification score was 99.2 percent. Coursework covered use-of-force scenarios, less-lethal tools such as Tasers, OC spray, and batons, field operations, warrantless arrests, Title 19 authority, and escort, removal, expedited removal, and custody procedures.
Multiple federal law enforcement sources said the officer was not wearing a body camera when the shots were fired. ICE has aimed to equip every officer with cameras by the end of the month.
Camera policy has been a recurring flashpoint after earlier deadly encounters, a pressure track also seen when DHS ordered body cameras on every ICE arrest team following fatal shootings.
While Democrats cast the Austin case as proof ICE is out of control, DHS on Tuesday released a list of some illegal immigrants in Texas arrested for serious crimes. Examples included support for an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting plot aimed at election day in 2024, Mexican citizens wanted for multiple murders, child sex offenders, and drug dealers.
One Mexican man on the list was arrested after posting a 2025 TikTok video in Spanish that solicited the murder of ICE agents and offered a $10,000 reward. Those cases are separate from Perez. They show the threat environment agents cite when they make vehicle stops and process final removal orders.
Reuters also noted a broader count of shootings by federal immigration agents since President Trump returned to office, including fatal cases, and repeated that the Austin officer lacked a body camera despite earlier equipment vows. Officials have not publicly confirmed every detail of Perez’s stop beyond the targeted-stop description and the warning about resistance.
Enforcement surges elsewhere have paired street crime with large-scale arrests, including when ICE arrested 500 in a Southwest Florida sweep after a brutal killing.
Investigators will need to determine the precise sequence of the vehicle stop, whether commands were given, and how force decisions stacked up against training. Authorities have not publicly confirmed the officer’s name, the exact street location, or a minute-by-minute timeline beyond the weekend Sunday window and the North Austin setting.
They also have not said whether criminal charges are under review against anyone involved, or only immigration custody questions. No public results have been released on full medical records, the facility treating Perez, or a complete DHS use-of-force narrative.
The Sept. 30 hearing is the next hard checkpoint. The temporary block keeps Perez in the country for that appearance. Lincoln-Goldfinch calls him a client who still needs care. Prosecutors and members of Congress call him a witness. ICE held him under a final order of removal that the court has now paused.
Legal fallout from ICE shootings can cut both ways for officers and agencies, as when an ICE officer pleaded not guilty to a federal charge tied to statements about a Minneapolis shooting.
This case is no longer only about one traffic maneuver under a highway. It is about whether a final order of removal yields to a temporary injunction, whether an officer without a camera can still rely on training records and partner statements, and whether local Democrats can convert an enforcement stop into a prolonged custody battle.
Perez was delivering food. Agents moved in. Shots were fired. A bullet remained. A judge stepped in. Protesters filled Austin streets. Letters hit Mullin’s and Venturella’s desks. The hearing date is set.
Every fact still missing belongs to investigators and the court, not to street chants or cable talking points. The removal system either means what the final order says, or it becomes another bargaining chip after the gunfire stops.
Lawful orders collapse when politics treats every enforcement shot as a reason to keep a removable alien in place; borders do not hold if courts and activists can freeze the last step every time.
