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Trump Admin Files Criminal Charges Against Asylum Seeker Shot by ICE

HeadlineSep 30, 2026

In Texas, the Trump administration has filed federal criminal charges against Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, the 28-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was shot by an ICE agent in Austin earlier this month while making deliveries for DoorDash. Federal prosecutors are accusing Garcés Pérez of resisting and assaulting a federal officer. The ICE agent who shot Garcés Pérez was not wearing a body camera.

His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, had a scheduled call with him Tuesday morning from ICE detention when she heard he had been taken to a federal courthouse in Austin. She posted this statement on social media.

Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch: “We were able to get to the courthouse, and I was able to see Wilber. He was clearly very emotionally distraught and in so much pain. He was dizzy. He was lightheaded. He was wincing. He couldn’t believe that this was happening to him, everything that has happened to him. This is the ninth day since he’s been shot, and he still has a bullet inside his body.”

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