Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez is the Venezuelan man who was shot and wounded this Sunday, September 20, during an operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Austin, Texas.
His identity was confirmed by his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, who represents Garcés and his family. Local authorities had not initially released the name of the injured man.
The man shot by ICE is a Venezuelan citizen and is married to a woman with legal immigration status in the United States, according to statements his attorney made to NPR. There has been no public disclosure regarding which city or state in Venezuela he is from or how long he had been living in the U.S.
There are conflicting accounts regarding Garcés’s immigration status.
Federal sources cited by CBS News and ABC News indicated that ICE agents were seeking to arrest a Venezuelan citizen who was in the United States without authorization and was subject to a deportation order. CBS confirmed that these sources identified Garcés as the man being sought.
However, his attorney offered a different account. Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch initially stated that she believed Garcés had no criminal record and no final deportation order. She later clarified to the AP that she did not know for certain what his current immigration status was.
The attorney also told CBS that, according to information held by the defense, Garcés had entered the United States legally, although she did not provide details regarding his current immigration status.
