Sign up for TPR Today, Texas Public Radio's newsletter that brings our top stories to your inbox each morning.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced the arrest of a Laredo man suspected of smuggling 52 migrants in three separate cases.
Salazar said in a Saturday news conference that Abelardo Herrera was arrested last week and was being held in Webb County.
“Right now, he’s facing 10 counts of continuous smuggling of persons, 2 counts of continuous smuggling of persons under 18 years of age, engaging in organized criminal activity — and federal migrant smuggling may be applied as well by our federal partners," Salazar said.
Herrera was allegedly involved in a recent smuggling case where 12 migrants were found at I-35 and Fischer Road, and another operation where 24 migrants were discovered in a rigged flatbed trailer in June of last year.
San Antonio was included in a list of cities where immigration raids could possibly be conducted in the wake of President Trump’s executive actions in the first week of his presidency.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Sunday began targeted enforcement operations across Texas.
ICE agents arrested 84 individuals in several cities, including Dallas, Irving Arlington, Fort Worth, Garland and Collin County, according to the ICE spokesperson. Those arrested were taken to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office in Dallas for processing.
Targeted operations were also reportedly conducted in Austin and the Rio Grande Valley. The ICE spokesman could not immediately confirm additional arrests in those areas.
Salazar said his agency is unaware of any imminent raids in the San Antonio area by federal authorities.
“Obviously we’re gonna cooperate with the law, but we also have to still bear in mind that racial profiling is still illegal. No matter who the president is, we don’t just have carte blanche to tell first responders go forth and go find people of color and place them under arrest. We still have to be cognizant of people’s civil rights," he said.
Salazar said his department has limited authority to detain persons based on their immigration status.
