Fate Of Dripping Springs Father & Family Hangs In The Balance
Community groups decry needless arrest & grave risk of deportation for longtime local business owner & faithful church-goer.
On Thursday, police arrested Martin Guerrero for operating a vehicle without a drivers license; instead of just ticketing him, officers took him to Hays County Jail where an immigration hold has been placed on him by ICE, meaning he can be transferred to a detention center for deportation at any moment.
Mr. Guerrero, who is 47, arrived to Texas in his late teens and built a masonry business and family here, including three U.S. citizen children.
A spokesperson for the non-profit Grassroots Leadership said, “Now that Mr. Guerrero hasn’t been on his diabetic medication for the last few days, his children are also worried about his safety since ICE has a track record of not providing medicine to diabetic patients in detention. He is also the main breadwinner and without him the family would fall on hard financial times.”
Faith groups and community organizations in Hays County are urgently mobilizing to call on Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler to release Mr. Guerrero.
Today, at 11 AM, a number of concerned citizens will gather in protest outside the Hays County Jail where Mr. Guerrero is being held.
Still others are phoning Sheriff Cutler to urge the freeing of the Dripping Springs father.
Karen Muñoz, a spokeswoman for the San Marcos Cinema Club — the town film society, which won the 2016 SMarts Award from the Arts Commission — said their members will be attending the picket and making phone calls.
“Senate Bill 4 has not been implemented yet, so Sheriff Cutler still has the discretion to uphold Mr. Guerrero’s 4th amendment rights by not honoring the ICE request — requests that, in fact, courts across the country have found unconstitutional. We’re going to join his daughter Alicia — who is an intern with a group with whom we’ve screened several films locally — to encourage the Sheriff to drop this unjust ICE hold.”
Should have used Uber
I am sorry this honest working man is facing deportation. Laws sometimes victimize the good guys. So educate me: can he not get a driver’s license? Are we to let folks ignore our laws and drive around without a license? Who gets to make the decisions on who has to obey the law and who doesn’t?
This a racist action committed by racist police. If it had been a white man the police would have drove him home but the Hispanic man goes to jail. This is not what the immigration bill was for. This is keeping a family apart.
If he does not have a driver’s license, does he have insurance? If he has an accident, who pays for damage or loss of lives? I did not think that DACA receipients qualified t age of 47? Those who advocate on his behalf should hear from victims of immigration crimes. Not racism, just reality.
He is in jail now because he is Mexican. I would like to know the last time the Sheriff arrested a white man for not having a drivers license.