LULAC and Rep. Lloyd Doggett are demanding an independent investigation into the shooting and questioning federal officials’ account of the involved shooting in Austin.
Page T2From§Eachthe late evening edition — 21 September 2026
THE PATTERN
Bullet still in the man ICE shot; Justice Department blocked prosecuting the officer who shot the last one.
As it ran on the front
The paperwork on this one is thin, which is usually where the work gets done. Follow along with me, line by line.
Line one: on Sunday, an ICE officer shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, after a traffic stop in Austin. Line two: Garcés Pérez told the New York Times his car was struck twice before he was. Line three — all together now — within hours of being shot he was out of the hospital and on the floor of an ICE detention center, the bullet lodged near his spine, where it is today. Line four, and I want to be precise, because his attorney was: he was interrogated in that condition. A man answering federal questions through a hospital gown with a bullet in his back is an interview that happened before a specialist did.…
…(cont) Line five is the one that reads like a typo. Lawmakers and advocates call him the key witness to the shooting. The government's filing for its key witness is a deportation.
Austin City Council condemned it. Representative Lloyd Doggett and LULAC asked for an independent investigation, which is what you ask for when the first investigation is being conducted by the employer of the person who fired. The one document produced same-day with real speed was Fox News establishing that the protest was organized within hours rather than spontaneously. Somebody built a careful timeline that week. It was not of the bullet.
Now the docket, one line at a time, and note the dates. September 4: federal prosecutors charge an ICE officer with making false statements about shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge; the officer is taken into federal custody. September 5: Truthout reports the administration blocked that prosecution. Back up to August 18, when Minnesota sued Texas to extradite the same officer, arrested in Texas more than two months earlier. August 27: a judge sides with Texas, and the officer could walk out of jail that Thursday.
So the record, stated flatly, is two states litigating who gets custody of the man who fired while the man who was shot sleeps on a concrete floor with the round still in him.
It is not new. On August 16, the Intercept counted Carlitos Ricardo Parias — shot by ICE, then detained — approaching 300 days behind bars with a festering wound, a national record we set against ourselves.
That is the whole file. One cabinet holds a man's body indefinitely, and the drawer where the officer's case goes is empty, and both were filled out correctly. When you have read to the bottom line, the only thing left is to climb.
“They shot a man, took the bullet out of the paperwork instead of his back, and put him on a detention floor before a specialist ever looked at him — and the same month, the Justice Department blocked the case against the officer who shot a guy in Minneapolis. Two states went to court over who gets to hold the shooter; not one court is holding the wound. And they're deporting the key witness, which tells you exactly what kind of investigation this is going to be.”
“Look, the man received medical care, he was released from the hospital, that's care — did I say that? That doesn't sound like me. What nobody's asking is who organized a protest within hours of an incident, because that's not spontaneous, and I think the American people can connect those dots. The prosecution question in Minneapolis is a jurisdictional matter between two states, which is precisely why we let the process work, and the process, as you can see, is working.”
The receipts
A Venezuelan immigrant, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, was shot in Austin, Texas, on Sunday after a traffic stop. The shooting prompted calls from local officials for a transparent investigation.
The agent allegedly shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg during Operation Metro Surge and then lied about it.
An investigation is underway in Austin, Texas, after a federal immigration agent shot a man in the torso on Sunday. CBS News homeland security correspondent Nicole Sganga reports.
Protesters are speaking out in Austin, Texas, following another shooting involving a federal immigration officer. CBS News immigration correspondent Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, the 28-year-old Venezuelan national shot by an ICE officer on Sunday, said in a phone call on Monday that he's "not doing well."
Austin, Tex., ICE shooting protest was organized by socialist and communist groups within hours, not a "spontaneous" gathering as media reported.
Republicans' reconciliation package puts $70 billion into ICE's department NBC News, May 2026
Man shot by ICE in custody with bullet lodged near his spine, lawyer saysIn Austin, Texas, an ICE officer shot and wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan man who, according to his lawyer, is now in federal custody with a bullet lodged in his spine. Jason Allen has video from the scene and more details.
Republicans' reconciliation package puts $70 billion into ICE's department NBC News, May 2026
Austin officials condemn ICE shooting of Venezuelan man, call for independent investigationAustin City Council members spoke out against ICE after an agent shot a man on Sept. 20.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on shock gloves a UN torture rapporteur found 'incompatible with the absolute prohibition of torture' ABC10 San Diego / UN Special Rapporteur finding, August 2026
Man shot by ICE in Texas being interrogated with bullet still in back, attorney saysThe Venezuelan national who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Austin, Texas, on Sunday is being interrogated while the bullet still remains in his back, according to his attorney. As of Monday, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez is being held in federal custody after he was released from the hospital. The bullet […]
Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez spoke from detention as lawmakers and advocates said he’s the victim of an ICE shooting and its “key witness” and shouldn’t be deported.
Wilber Garcés Pérez said he was rushed out of a hospital and forced to sleep on the floor of an ICE detention center within hours of being shot in Texas.
A man was shot and injured in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement incident in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, according to officials.
· ICE officer who shot immigrant in Minnesota in federal custody, source says from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Judge Sides With Texas Over Minnesota on Extradition of ICE Agent from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Minnesota Sues Texas to Extradite ICE Agent Who Shot Resident, Falsified Report from the morgue, 18 Aug 2026
· ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound. from the morgue, 16 Aug 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.