Austin ICE shooting sparks fight over Venezuelan illegal immigrant's deportation

One of the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights groups called Monday for the Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was shot during an ICE pursuit in Austin to not be deported, arguing he is a key witness in the investigation into officers' use of force.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) made the statements Monday afternoon after an agent shot and wounded Wilber Rafael Garces Perez during a traffic stop.

Garces Perez was hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

The shooting sparked protests in Austin and calls from local officials for an independent investigation.

"Wilber is a victim of the shooting and the most important witness to it.

You do not deport the key witness to your own officers' use of force," LULAC CEO Juan Peruano said.

According to Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the attorney for Garces Perez and his wife, Garces Perez was delivering DoorDash when an "unmarked black truck sideswiped him." ICE SHOOTING ROCKS AUSTIN AS DEMOCRAT DEMANDS BODYCAM VIDEO, INDEPENDENT PROBE She said he did not know the vehicle was operated by ICE and subsequently made a U-turn under the highway before the agents continued to pursue him.

"The truck chased him and sideswiped him again.

And the agents came out and shot him in the back of the neck and pulled him out of the car," Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

Lincoln-Goldfinch also claimed Garces Perez did not receive sufficient medical care, and the bullet remained lodged hours after the shooting.

ICE OFFICER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO LYING ABOUT MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING INVOLVING VENEZUELAN MAN "We learned that at 4:00 he still had a bullet lodged in his back.

He was shot here in his back, and they didn't take the bullet out, and they didn't give him pain medication.

And they transferred him to ICE, to a processing center, where he spent the night without a bed," Lincoln-Goldfinch said.

"There is absolutely zero justification for having shot him in the back of the neck.