A DoorDash driver shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in Austin sits in a federal detention center with a bullet still lodged near his spine — and no one in authority is answering for it.
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, was making food deliveries on Sunday when he was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. He spoke by phone Monday from an ICE detention center in Pearsall, Texas, telling reporters he is still in pain and has not received the medical care he believes he needs. Doctors did not remove the bullet because of its location near his spine, according to AL.com.
His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Garcés Pérez was released from the hospital and transferred to immigration custody only hours after the shooting. He arrived at the detention center with the bullet still in his back and continued to complain of pain.
The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged Garcés Pérez is in federal custody pending immigration proceedings and says he is in stable condition. DHS has disputed some claims about his treatment but has not denied that the bullet remained lodged in his body while he was in detention. Stable, not treated. That is the government's standard.
Lawmakers, immigrant advocates, and Garcés Pérez's attorney are demanding answers about the shooting and calling for his release so he can receive additional medical care. Some have argued he is a key witness in the investigation and should remain available as authorities review what happened — a remarkable position, that the man shot by the government should stay locked up so the government can keep tabs on him.
The details of what precipitated the shooting remain scarce. DHS has not publicly explained why an ICE officer fired on a delivery driver during a traffic stop. No officer has been named. No body camera footage has been released. The agency charged with enforcing immigration law shot a man, locked him up hours later, and left a bullet next to his spine — and the official response is that he is "stable."
Meanwhile, the establishment press can't be bothered. While one local outlet covered the story, a national outlet that could have reported on a man sitting in federal custody with a government bullet in his back instead ran a feature on whether the New York Knicks should sign a second-round draft pick. That is the priority scale in corporate media.
The border crisis is not abstract. It is a man making deliveries who caught a bullet from a federal officer and now sits detained, untreated, and unanswered. The question is not complicated: Who shot Wilber Garcés Pérez, why, and who is going to get that bullet out of his back?
