Federal authorities this week transferred a Waco man to an immigration detention facility near Houston after dropping the charges on which he was arrested last month.
Noe Guerrero, 34, was transferred Monday to the facility in Conroe, where an immigration judge will decide whether to reinstate a previous immigration bond that would allow him to return to his family and construction job in Waco.
The case has sparked several protests in Waco since July 24, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Guerrero and broke his truck window, an encounter captured on a widely viewed video. ICE officials at the time charged that he did not possess documents related to his immigration bond, but the U.S. Department of Justice dropped those misdemeanor charges Friday.
Guerrero’s attorney and employer say he has a work permit related to a pending immigration court hearing and that he was carrying his documents in his truck at the time of the arrest. The immigration proceeding was related to a conviction for a 2014 driving while intoxicated incident.
In response to a Waco Bridge questions Monday about his continued detention, ICE issued the following statement Monday afternoon: “ICE arrested Guerrero-Mendieta, a 33-year-old criminal alien, July 24 in Waco, Texas, for immigration violations and for violating the terms of his immigration bond by engaging in suspected criminal activity.”
Guerrero’s Waco-based attorney, Anali Looper of American Gateways, said ICE will not tell her what that “suspected criminal activity” might be or what law enforcement agency might be investigating him. She said the law requires arresting agencies to provide probable cause for a criminal arrest, normally through a warrant signed by a judge.
“It’s extremely unjust,” Looper said. “He was stopped (in July) for bogus reasons. He’s got a newborn child at home and has spent more than a week in jail without his family.”
More than 40 of Guerrero’s supporters, including his older sister Nancy Guerrero, arrived in front of the Waco federal courthouse just before sunrise Monday morning. They chanted and held signs through a heavy rainstorm in the hopes that he would be released from ICE custody.
“It just breaks my heart to see his family and him going through all of this stuff because it’s unfair,” said Nancy Guerrero, his older sister, who drove to Waco from New Braunfels on Monday in hopes of seeing his release. “I feel like being Hispanic or an immigrant makes you a target.”
The Heart of Texas Network for Immigrant Rights and McLennan County Democratic Party have continued this week to advocate for Guerrero’s release, urging residents to contact federal officials including U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco.
“Congressman Sessions is closely monitoring the situation and believes in due process and fair treatment under the law,” a Sessions spokesperson said in an email response to the Bridge on Tuesday. “If no formal charges are brought against Mr. Guerrero, he should be released following his bond hearing.”
