Bullet removed from Venezuelan man wounded by ICE in Texas

A Venezuelan man who was shot by an immigration agent in Texas underwent surgery on Thursday to remove the bullet that had been lodged near his spine since Sept. 20, his lawyers reported.

Wilber Garcés, 28, was shot in the back during an operation by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Austin, while working as a delivery driver in his vehicle. On Wednesday, he had already been placed in federal criminal custody following a hearing in which a judge denied his bail.

"He underwent surgery today [Thursday] and is currently in recovery," the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), a civil rights organization that is part of his legal team, reported in a press release.

This incident adds to other recent incidents that have occurred during immigration raids spearheaded by Republican President Donald Trump, which have been criticized by Democratic lawmakers and humanitarian organizations for the use of force.

Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Garcés for assault, resisting arrest, obstruction, and hindering a federal agent, offenses punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Garcés had been in ICE custody and was later transferred to a federal prison.

"This is a charge that the government often uses in retaliation against people who have resisted or protested or been assaulted by ICE. There's many, many examples of this," said his attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch on social media.

Texas federal judge Dustin Howell denied Garcés bail due to flight risk and video evidence showing the defendant fleeing a traffic stop and striking a law enforcement officer with his vehicle during his attempt to escape. 

According to the testimony of the officers involved, Garcés fled an initial encounter, striking one of them with his car's rearview mirror. When they managed to catch up with him, the officer with the initials L.G. said that Garcés tried to run him over with his vehicle, so he fired his weapon.

The defendant claims that he had asked the officers to allow him to park his car in a safe place before turning himself in, but they refused, rammed into him, and then fired the shot that struck him in the back.

"The HSI investigator's testimony raises serious questions. According to that testimony, LG, the agent who fired, wore no body camera. DF, who pursued Wilber turned his camera off partway through the encounter. ... The public is left without a full record of how this encounter ended in a shooting," stated the TCRP organization.