Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, the Venezuelan man shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Austin on Sunday, said in a phone call to a Monday press conference that an unmarked SUV sideswiped him twice before he realised agents were trying to stop him, and that they only then switched on their lights and sirens.

According to the account published by the Texas Tribune, he asked to pull over somewhere safer than traffic under a freeway and an agent said no; he then felt one shot to his back. The hospital that treated him told him it would not remove the bullet because it sits too close to his spine, he said. Attorney Kristin Etter filed on Monday in federal court in San Antonio for his release and to block his deportation: he does not dispute the removal order but wants a chance to apply for a U visa, an immigration status for crime victims. Garcés Pérez entered the United States in 2024 through the CBP One app run by Customs and Border Protection, applied for asylum and received a work permit, according to his lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch; he updated his address with the immigration court, but the hearing notice went to an old address and the removal order was issued without him being notified. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says he has a final removal order and is in custody awaiting deportation.