Wilber Garcés, the Venezuelan migrant wounded by gunfire by an agent from the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE), was taken from Pearsall detention center to a hospital on Monday, his lawyer’s office confirmed.
Another migrant detained in the same centre told Garcés' lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, that guards from the facility attacked the 28-year-old Venezuelan, and that he was losing sensitivity on the left side of his body.
It is still unknown to which medical center he was transferred and what treatment he is receiving, according to Fabiana Meléndez, a spokeswoman for the lawyer.
Garcés, who had lived in the United States since 2024 and had a work permit, was intercepted on Sunday afternoon by ICE agents while distributing DoorDash orders in his car.
According to Garcés himself on the phone from the detention center, during a press conference organized by his lawyer in Austin, agents struck one side of his car and shot him when he tried to move it to park before descending.
An amateur video broadcast on Monday, September 21, 2026 through digital platforms captured the tense moments following the migratory operation in Austin, Texas, where Venezuelan migrant Wilber Garcés was wounded by bullets by federal officials. of him? pic.twitter.com/MhhOpWlj4H
Second visit to the hospital
After the incident, emergency services transferred him to a medical center in Austin on Sunday, but he was discharged a few hours later without surgery to remove a bullet in his back.
From there, the migration authorities took him to the Pearsall detention centre, where he remained until he was again taken to a hospital.
After the press conference, and in what the lawyer considers a act of retaliation, the guards of the center “aggressed him and treated him very badly”, according to Fabiana Meléndez, spokeswoman for Lincoln-Goldfinch.
“We know, by the other detainee, that at some point they put a chain on his waist, married him to a chair and took him to a medical center,” Meléndez added.
Democratic congressman Greg Casar, who represents Texas in the House of Representatives, confirmed on social media the transfer of Garcés to the hospital and called it a “positive first step.”
“Now we hope he recovers completely, reunites with his family and can tell law enforcement the full story of how ICE shot him in the back,” he added.
He had a deportation order.
Garcés entered the United States. In 2024, the CBP One app, a program that was active during the government of former President Joe Biden (2021-2025), allowed migrants to apply for an appointment to appear at a border port and ask for asylum in the country.
The Venezuelan had a deportation order issued in his absence by an immigration judge. According to her lawyer, Garcés did not attend the hearing because the letter with the notification came to an ancient address, despite having informed the Government of his change of residence.
This type of failure has risen during the Trump administration: in the past year, judges have ordered the expulsion of some 281,867 migrants who did not appear to their hearings, 90,288 of them with asylum applications, according to official data.
Information from EFE.
