Venezuelan Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent on a street in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, September 20, 2026, was readmitted to hospital after protests and pressure from Texas lawmakers over his health, because the bullet lodged in his back had not been removed, according to El País.

He had said on a call during a press conference on Monday, September 21, that the bullet fractured his collarbone and was not taken out because it sits close to his spine, and that at the ICE processing centre in Pearsall, where he is being held, he received only a painkiller in the early hours. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said he was stable when he was transferred, and his lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, disputes the official account of an irregular entry: she says Garcés entered with authorisation in 2024 and applied for asylum, and that the deportation order was issued in absentia because a hearing notice went to his old address. Austin congressman Greg Casar has demanded that ICE not deport him, and the city saw a second night of protests.