An ICE officer shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin on Sept. 20. Now federal prosecutors have charged him.

This is an update to a story El Tejano first covered on Sept. 22. Read that story here: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/ice-agent-shoots-unarmed-doordash-driver-in-austin-video-raises-questions-about-the-official-story/

Garces Perez is 28. He is from Venezuela. He faces one count of assaulting, resisting, interfering with and impeding a federal officer. If he is found guilty, he could get up to 20 years in federal prison.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charge on Tuesday. That same day he made his first court appearance. He went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell in the Western District of Texas.

He is being held at an ICE detention center in Pearsall.

The feds gave their side on Tuesday. They say ICE agents stopped his car on Sept. 20. They say the agents had checked that an immigration judge had ordered him out of the country.

The agents told him to get out of the car. The feds say he did not. They say a body camera was rolling. They say the agents gave him orders in Spanish. Then, the feds say, he shut his window and drove off. They say his side mirror hit one agent in the torso.

The feds say the agents chased him with lights and sirens on. They say the chase went fast through business and home streets. They say he tried to hit an agent with his car. That agent then fired his gun.

The agent who fired did not have a body camera. That is in the sworn statement filed with the charge. His partner did have one. The statement says the partner lost sight of the chase. He turned his camera off while he called for help.

Garces Perez gave investigators a different account.

Both sides say an agent's SUV blocked his car at the first stop. He says the SUV hit his car. The agents say the two cars never touched.

He admitted he did not get out when told. He said he wanted to park the car so his wife could pick it up.

He said the chase ended when the SUV hit his car and spun it around. He said the agent then fired into his back right window. He said the bullet hit him in the upper back.

The two sides also do not agree on when the agents turned on their lights.

After the shooting, Garces Perez was taken to a hospital in Austin. Then ICE moved him to the lockup in Pearsall.

U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat, visited him last week. Casar said a specialist recommended surgery to take out a bullet still lodged in his body.

"This person needs a doctor, not a deportation or a detention center," Casar said at a news conference last week.

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, also a Democrat, has spoken out too. Castro has said Garces Perez was shot in the back. Both men want an outside investigation. They also want him let out so he can get medical care. Homeland Security disputes what they have said about his care.

His lawyers say he came into the U.S. the legal way in 2024. They say he used the CBP One app. They say he asked for asylum and got a work permit.

His lawyers say he missed an immigration hearing. They say the notice went to an old address. They say an immigration judge then ordered him removed without him there.

Homeland Security says his permit to work ran out in 2025.

Garces Perez has two more court dates this week.

A federal judge has ordered him to appear Wednesday at a hearing in San Antonio. His lawyers want to block his removal and get him released. Last week a judge put his deportation on hold for now.

On Friday, Oct. 2, there is a detention hearing in the criminal case.

Austin police and the Texas Rangers are still looking into the shooting itself.

Everyone is presumed innocent until proved otherwise.