A major Hispanic civil rights organization, LULAC, is vehemently opposing the deportation of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a Venezuelan national who was shot by an ICE agent during a traffic stop in Austin, arguing he is the crucial witness needed to investigate potential excessive force by law enforcement. According to Garces Perez’s attorney, he was delivering food when an unmarked ICE truck sideswiped his vehicle, leading him to make a U-turn, after which agents pursued and shot him in the back of the neck, allegedly without adequate medical attention or pain relief before he was taken into federal custody with a bullet still lodged in his body. LULAC CEO Juan Peruano stated, “You do not deport the key witness to your own officers’ use of force,” while attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch condemned the shooting as unjustified and accused ICE of habitually providing false accounts of such incidents, demanding an end to ICE traffic stops due to concerns about officers being “over armed, overpaid, under trained and violent.” This stance is echoed by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who expressed a deep distrust in ICE’s credibility, asserting that federal immigration officials “lie” and calling for an independent investigation into the shooting, even as DHS sources confirm Garces Perez is an illegal immigrant with a removal order, having entered the U.S. under the Biden administration.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
