GARCÉS PÉREZ CHARGED WITH ASSAULT AFTER TEXAS ICE SHOOTING

Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, has been charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer after being shot in the back during an immigration enforcement stop in Austin, Texas. Federal prosecutors say he struck an officer with his car's wing mirror while driving away on 20 September. He appeared in federal court in Austin on Tuesday and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. His attorney has said a bullet remains lodged in his back.

According to the complaint, officers spotted the car's emergency flashers on near a shopping centre while Garcés Pérez made a food delivery; a check showed it was registered to a man subject to a final removal order. He handed over his driving licence through a partly open window, stayed in the car and asked officers to wait for his wife; the exchange was described in court documents as "pleasant and not aggressive". About a minute later, he closed the window and drove off, striking an officer's torso with the mirror. The officer gave chase, alleges Garcés Pérez tried to drive into him, and opened fire; the complaint does not say whether the officer was hurt.

The shooting prompted protests in Austin and criticism of immigration enforcement from Democratic politicians. Garcés Pérez is in US marshals' custody, and his lawyers have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt his removal from the US. An affidavit from a Department of Homeland Security agent, described as the government's fullest public account of the shooting to date, includes body-camera photographs but no video. One report noted that similar claims against drivers have previously been contradicted by camera footage, prompting scrutiny of vehicle stops.