Greg Casar

SAN ANTONIO – U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said Wednesday that a man who was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this week in Austin is “in nonstop intense pain” and needs surgery to have a bullet removed from his body.

Casar visited Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, 28, for about an hour Wednesday at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall. He was the first person to visit Garcés Pérez in person since Sunday's shooting in North Austin. Garcés Pérez's lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said she spoke with her client by video for the first time Tuesday morning.

According to Casar, Garcés Pérez was using a wheelchair and has extensive bruising across his chest. His left arm is in a sling, and he has a large wound on his back that requires cleaning two to three times a day. About an hour before Casar's visit, he received a pain injection that provided some relief, Casar said.

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Casar said a specialist told Garcés Pérez he needed surgery to remove the bullet, which remains lodged near his spine.

Garcés Pérez was shot Sunday afternoon by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. He was hospitalized while in custody, released from the hospital after several hours and eventually transferred to the facility in Pearsall, about 55 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Casar disputed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s statement that Garcés Pérez was receiving “some of the best care of his life,” saying it is unusual for someone with a gunshot wound to be taken out of the hospital after only a few hours.

DHS responded on social media, saying in part, “It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody.”

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At a news conference at the San Antonio office of U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, Casar said he called Garcés Pérez's wife, Elizdar, after leaving the detention center.

“I did tell his wife on the way here that his spirit, though, remains strong,” Casar said.

Casar had planned to visit the facility with U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, but Castro was delayed by flight disruptions. Under federal law, members of Congress and their staff are allowed to visit detention facilities and meet with detainees if they provide proper notice and documentation.

Castro’s district director, Rose Anne Maldonado, accompanied Casar and his staff into the center and said that ICE’s treatment of Garcés Pérez “has amounted to torture.”

“The medical facilities at South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall are not equipped to handle a patient who's experienced that kind of trauma,” Maldonado said. “ICE knew this, but took him there anyway.”

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The facility has nurses, but Garcés Pérez would need to go to San Antonio for surgery, Casar said.

“I am calling on ICE to not get in the way of any surgery Wilber needs to get this bullet out of his body if he and his family choose to have that surgery,” Casar said.

Casar said he did not discuss the circumstances of Sunday’s shooting with Garcés Pérez, including whether he was being pursued by ICE agents before he was shot, as video released Tuesday appears to show.

“The purpose of my visit was a medical checkup,” Casar said. “This is an active criminal investigation, and that legal process needs to occur between local law enforcement and federal law enforcement.”

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Casar said he hopes Garcés Pérez will get to speak to investigators and share his account of what happened. Casar said some of the other key witnesses, including agents, could be interviewed as soon as Thursday.

The Austin Police Department and Travis County District Attorney’s Office have asked to be “co-equal partners” with federal agencies investigating the shooting and to have access to evidence.

Austin police are continuing their own investigation – independent of federal authorities — but have asked to be involved in all aspects of their investigation, including interviews, said Anna Sabana, a department spokeswoman.

The department has not yet been granted or denied access to the investigation, she said.

Earlier Wednesday, Lincoln-Goldfinch, posted on social media that another detainee in the Pearsall center contacted Garcés Pérez’s wife and told her he is being held in isolation in the infirmary.

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“According to the detainee who spoke with his wife, Wilber appeared discolored, extremely swollen, and in significant pain,” Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said she is demanding that Garcés Pérez receive proper medical care — and have his communication privileges reinstated. Those privileges were reportedly revoked after he spoke to the media by phone during a Monday news conference, when his wife placed him on speakerphone.

Meanwhile, a PayPal fundraiser to help Garcés Pérez with future medical care has raised more than $24,000. A hearing on his case is set for Sept. 30 in San Antonio.

Investigative reporter Tony Plohetski contributed to this report.