A Venezuelan migrant who was shot by an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is speaking out from behind bars, even as a bullet remains lodged in his body. Wilber Garcés gave a phone interview to local reporters from a detention facility in southern Texas, recounting the harrowing hours surrounding the shooting.
Garcés said he still cannot understand why medical staff have not removed the bullet, expressing frustration and disbelief at being left in that condition while in federal custody. His account raises fresh questions about the treatment of detained immigrants and the use of force by ICE agents during enforcement operations.
Details about exactly how and why the shooting occurred were not fully outlined in the initial report, but Garcés’ testimony offers a rare, direct glimpse into the experience of someone caught in the US immigration enforcement system while nursing a gunshot wound. Cases like his have drawn scrutiny amid ongoing debates in the United States over ICE tactics and the conditions inside detention centers, particularly for migrants from Venezuela, many of whom have sought protection from that country’s political and economic crisis.
For the full account in Spanish, read the original report at El Diario de Hoy.
Source: “¿Cómo me va a dejar la bala ahí?”: venezolano herido por ICE habla mientras está detenido (El Diario de Hoy).
Image: D-Stanley, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).