In Austin on a Sunday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot a 28-year-old Venezuelan delivery driver named Wilber Rafael Garces Perez — and did so without a body camera recording the encounter. The absence of footage arrives at a moment when the federal government had pledged full camera compliance for ICE officers by month's end, transforming a single act of enforcement into a broader question about whether accountability is being built into power or merely promised. As Garces Perez recovers in detention with limited medical care, a federal court has stepped in to hold the spac
ICE Officer Who Shot Venezuelan Delivery Driver Wasn't Wearing Body Camera
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot in the upper torso and hospitalized; he now faces ICE detention with limited pain management while recovering from his injuries.
The officer was not wearing a body camera.
Mark
Why does the missing body camera matter so much here? Isn't there other footage?
Mimi
There is footage from other officers who arrived after the shooting, but nothing from the moment the ICE officer fired. That gap is the whole story—we don't know what led to the shot.
Luke
Right, and we should be clear: we have no independent record of what happened in those seconds. We're relying on what the officer says happened, and what witnesses might say.
Mark
What about the timing? Wasn't the DHS supposed to have all these cameras by now?
Mimi
Mullin said by the end of September. This happened in late September. The officer wasn't wearing one.
Luke
But we don't know if this officer was supposed to have one yet, or if there was a rollout schedule. The reporting says Mullin promised it, but not whether every officer was equipped on a specific date.
Mark
And Garces Perez—what's his status now?
Mimi
He's in ICE custody at a detention facility in Pearsall. A federal judge blocked his deportation pending a hearing on September 30.
Luke
He's also recovering from a gunshot wound with minimal pain management, which is its own serious issue separate from the shooting itself.
Mark
So we're waiting for that hearing?
Mimi
That's the next moment where something could change. The judge will decide whether he can be held or has to be released.
Luke
And we still won't have the body camera footage from the shooting itself. That's not going to appear at the hearing.
The Pulse
- An ICE officer shot a Venezuelan DoorDash driver in the upper torso in Austin — and no body camera footage exists of the moment the trigger was pulled.
- DHS had publicly pledged full body camera deployment for ICE officers by end of September, making this officer's missing equipment an immediate and damaging contradiction.
- Protests erupted across Texas, and demands for transparency intensified after The Atlantic first reported the footage gap — with the victim's attorney calling for all available recordings to be made public.
- Garces Perez was transferred to ICE's South Texas Detention Complex while still recovering from his gunshot wound, receiving only over-the-counter pain relief and held in isolation with limited means of communication.
- A federal judge blocked deportation and scheduled a habeas hearing for September 30, creating a narrow legal window in which accountability might still be forced into the open.
In Austin on a Sunday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot a 28-year-old Venezuelan delivery driver named Wilber Rafael Garces Perez — and did so without a body camera recording the encounter. The absence of footage arrives at a moment when the federal government had pledged full camera compliance for ICE officers by month's end, transforming a single act of enforcement into a broader question about whether accountability is being built into power or merely promised. As Garces Perez recovers in detention with limited medical care, a federal court has stepped in to hold the space open — insisting that the law, at minimum, be allowed to witness what the camera did not.
On a Sunday afternoon in Austin, an ICE officer shot 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez — a Venezuelan working as a DoorDash delivery driver — in the upper torso. The officer was not wearing a body camera. Garces Perez was hospitalized, and the incident quickly drew protests across Texas and demands for a full accounting of what took place.
The missing footage carries particular weight given that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had announced just weeks earlier that all ICE officers would be equipped with body cameras by the end of September. The department offered no immediate explanation for why this officer was not wearing one. Austin Police released dash and body camera footage from other officers who arrived after the shooting, but none of it captures the moments leading up to the incident. Both the city's police chief and mayor confirmed that local officers played no role.
After his hospitalization, Garces Perez was taken into ICE custody. He was briefly returned to a hospital after reporting numbness and believing the bullet remained in his back. By Tuesday, he had been transferred to ICE's South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall, where his attorney reported he was receiving only Tylenol and ibuprofen, held in isolation, and had lost access to his primary means of communication.
His attorney filed a habeas petition on constitutional grounds, and a federal judge responded by scheduling an in-person hearing for September 30 — effectively blocking deportation until the court could weigh the case. The shooting, the absent footage, and the conditions of his detention have converged into something larger than any single incident: a test of whether federal agencies can be held to account during a period of intensifying immigration enforcement.
On a Sunday afternoon in Austin, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fired a shot into the upper torso of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan working as a DoorDash delivery driver. The officer was not wearing a body camera.
Garces Perez, whom federal officials say holds a final deportation order, was hospitalized after the shooting. The incident unfolded as part of the Trump administration's intensified immigration enforcement operations, and it has since drawn protests across Texas and demands for a full accounting of what occurred. The absence of video documentation from the officer who fired the shot has become a central point of contention—a gap in the record that threatens to deepen questions about accountability that already surround the case.
The ICE officer involved joined the agency last year, having previously worked as a border patrol agent within U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Austin Police released dash camera and body camera footage from an off-duty officer and a responding officer who arrived after the shooting, but neither recording captures the moments leading up to the incident itself. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and Mayor Kirk Watson have both stated that local officers played no role in the shooting.
The timing of the missing body camera footage carries particular weight. Just weeks earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had announced that all ICE officers would be equipped with body cameras by the end of September. "We're getting close," Mullin said at a news conference in New York. "By the end of September, I'm pretty sure we will be there." The department did not immediately respond when asked why this officer was not wearing one.
Garces Perez's attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said Tuesday she hopes "the relevant agencies will make all available footage public so there can be a clear and complete understanding of what happened." The lack of video has already intensified scrutiny—a detail first reported by The Atlantic that underscores the stakes of the moment.
After his hospitalization, Garces Perez was taken into ICE custody. On Monday, he was transferred back to a hospital after reporting numbness on his left side and believing the bullet remained lodged in his back. Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas visited and documented the conditions of his detention. By Tuesday, Garces Perez had been moved to ICE's South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall. According to his attorney, he was receiving only Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain management, remained in isolation on a flat bed, and had lost access to a tablet he had been using to communicate.
Lincoln-Goldfinch filed a habeas petition seeking Garces Perez's release on constitutional grounds. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Garces Perez to appear for an in-person hearing on the habeas claim scheduled for September 30, effectively blocking ICE from deporting him until the court could hear the case. The shooting, the missing footage, and the detention that followed have converged into a test of how federal agencies document and justify their actions during a period of aggressive immigration enforcement.
Notable Quotes
We're getting close. By the end of September, I'm pretty sure we will be there.— Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, on body camera rollout
Today, he tells me he is receiving only Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain. He remains in isolation, on a flat bed, and without the tablet he previously used to communicate.— Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Garces Perez's attorney, on his detention conditions
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