STATEMENT: Hinojosa Calls for Urgent Medical Attention for Wilber Rafael Garces Perez 

Austin, TX – Today, Democratic Nominee for Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa released the following statement amid updates about the ICE shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin. New reporting shows Perez entered the U.S. lawfully as an asylum seeker through a parole program and has no criminal history. Perez is now being detained at the South Texas ICE Processing Center, where it has been reported he was interrogated without pain medication while a bullet remained lodged in his body. 

“Right now, a man is being held with a bullet lodged in his body at a federal facility in Pearsall, Texas. He needs urgent medical attention. I’ve never heard of such a thing in modern-day America. This is cruel and unusual and marks a depraved new low at ICE.”

The shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez comes just two months after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by federal officers in Houston and a year and a half since the killing of Ruben Ray Martinez in South Texas. In July, Hinojosa filed a public information request for information on the State’s and the Texas Department of Public Safety’s response to Araujo’s shooting and previously called for all body cam footage related to the Martinez shooting. Transparency and accountability are vital components to keeping our communities safe and maintaining the rule of law.

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