On Thursday morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stopped a pickup truck in Waco. The unfolding scene, captured in a video from inside the truck, resembled stops that have taken place around the country but not necessarily in Waco.
There was a two-minute interrogation of the driver, Noe Guerrero, over his immigration status. Then his window was smashed by a plainclothes federal agent before he was removed from the vehicle.
Federal prosecutors allege Guerrero, a Waco resident and construction worker, was apprehended without his “alien registration or alien registration receipt card,” according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas on Friday.
Guerrero’s employer, however, says the documents were in the vehicle at the time of arrest and that he has legal status to work in the United States.
“His paperwork was in the truck, he was just nervous,” said Jose Mancha, part-owner of Innovative Solutions, a Waco construction company where Guerrero has worked for six years. “I’ve got the documents with me now.”
Mancha pointed to Guerrero’s trembling hands as an indication of why he did not immediately furnish the documents, as did Anali Looper, a Waco immigration attorney representing Guerrero, who immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. in 2010.
“If he had reached into his glove compartment, he might not be alive right now,” Looper said. “From what people see in the media, that is a legitimate fear that if he had reached over to grab anything else, what could have happened?”
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article, but a spokesperson for the agency supplied a statement to KWTX regarding the encounter: “ICE arrested Guerrero-Mendieta, a 33-year-old criminal alien…for immigration violations and for violating the terms of his immigration bond by engaging in suspected criminal activity.”
ICE has yet to detail what criminal activity Guerrero is suspected of. He was arrested on a DWI charge in 2014 but has no violent criminal history.
Ninety-three percent of individuals detained by ICE since Oct. 2024 have no violent convictions and 65% have no criminal criminal convictions at all, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute, a right-leaning think-tank.
Building a life in Waco
On Friday afternoon, about a dozen protesters assembled outside of the U.S. district court in Waco before Guerrero was scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Derek T. Gilliland.
Among them was John Smith of Brazos Valley Tile Installations. Smith has worked closely with Mancha and Guerrero on numerous construction projects. “My problem is that he has his paperwork,” Smith said. “He spent a lot of money with an attorney to be a citizen. He has a right to work here.”
To reinforce his argument, Smith took to Facebook on Monday and posted a photo of himself holding the immigration documents that he said were in Guerrero’s truck during the incident.
Both Mancha and Smith described Guerrero, originally from Mexico, as a committed employee, husband and father to three children. Guerrero had saved enough money to purchase a home for his family in Woodway last month, Mancha said.
“The thing about Noe is, he didn’t miss (work),” Mancha said. “He’s got responsibilities, he’s a married man… he’s one of my lead guys and he shows up to work every day.”
The video of Guerrero’s traffic stop was shared hundreds of times on Instagram and catalyzed the protest outside of the courthouse, which was organized by the Heart of Texas Network for Immigrant Rights.
“It was brutal, and it’s abhorrent to treat people like that,” said Jackie Rhodes, a longtime Wacoan who showed up to protest on Friday. “I would like to see (Guerrero) walk free, for ICE to apologize to him and to pay for the broken window in his vehicle.”
Guerrero is scheduled for a preliminary and detention hearing at the Waco Federal Courthouse on Aug. 5.
