Austin, Texas: A Venezuelan man shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer was in custody Monday at an ICE detention centre in Texas after he was released from a hospital with a bullet still lodged in his back, according to a spokesperson for his attorney.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was making a DoorDash delivery in Austin on Sunday before he was shot during a brief pursuit on foot following a traffic stop, according to officials and his attorney's office.
Fabiana Melendez Ruiz, a spokesperson for immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Perez called his wife around 12.30 pm Sunday to tell her that he had been shot. She said Perez's wife had not spoken with him since then.
Perez was being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Centre in Pearsall, about 130 miles southwest of Austin, Ruiz told The Associated Press. She said Lincoln-Goldfinch spoke by phone with Perez, who told her he was being interrogated while a bullet remained in his back. Perez also said he had no pain medication, according to Ruiz.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released little information and has not said what prompted the shooting.
In a statement early Monday, the department said it was investigating the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the US illegally who ‘had a final order of removal’.
Perez is an asylum seeker and entered the United States through a parole programme, and he has no criminal history, Ruiz said.
"Regardless of his status, the use of force was unwarranted," Ruiz said. "As far as we understand, he was here legally."
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said Sunday that the shooting occurred following a traffic stop and that local police were not involved. Local officials said the man was shot once in the torso and had been hospitalised in serious but stable condition.
The shooting occurred amid a surge in ICE enforcement across the US during President Donald Trump's second term. During the summer, it reported more than 50,000 monthly arrests in July and August — a first for the agency.
Immigration officers have come under intense scrutiny amid a series of shootings during the crackdown. At least four people have been fatally shot by federal officers during immigration enforcement operations this year.
Perez's wife and attorney were unable to get information on his condition from the hospital Sunday until hospital attorneys told them at around 6 pm that he had been discharged 90 minutes earlier, Ruiz said.
She said ICE had not confirmed any information to Lincoln-Goldfinch, who used legal databases and other means to discover where he was being detained.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, said Sunday he wanted local police to have a role in investigating the shooting. He also called for the additional participation of the Texas Rangers. Watson said it would not be appropriate for ICE to investigate on its own.
Meanwhile, about 100 anti-ICE protesters gathered Sunday in the shooting's aftermath.
Police used tear gas and pepper-ball projectiles to disperse protesters in Austin on Sunday night, according to city officials. Officers declared an unlawful assembly near a strip mall before moving on demonstrators, firing pepper-ball projectiles and making arrests.
Austin residents also gathered outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night to protest after Perez was shot and wounded. Demonstrators held placards, chanted slogans and listened to speakers calling for accountability over the incident.
US Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat whose district includes parts of Austin, said ICE had recently started detaining more people in the city.
"Just a few weeks ago, as we saw the ICE surge come to Austin, especially to North Central Austin, I and others said that ICE needed to leave before someone was shot," Casar said.
The Department of Homeland Security said Perez was in the United States illegally and had a final order of removal, while differing accounts of the shooting have emerged.
At the scene of the shooting, a dark blue Toyota Corolla was parked under an overpass with damage to its passenger-side door and what appeared to be bullet holes before it was towed away Sunday evening.(With inputs from AP via PTI and Reuters)