SAN ANTONIO – An inmate was mistakenly released from the Bexar County Jail to Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office confirmed.
Daniel Salazar Galindo, 27, was arrested on a charge of reckless driving and evading arrest in a vehicle and was subsequently released to the custody of ICE on Sunday morning before BCSO completed the necessary paperwork, the Sheriff's Office said.
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"Although the inmate was to be released to I.C.E. later in the day, doing so prior to completion of documents is a direct violation of BCSO policy," the Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
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ICE officials took Galindo back to the Sheriff's Office so the appropriate paperwork could be processed, and he left with the federal officials after that was completed.
Johnny Garcia, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said officials reported the incident to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, though he said it's unclear if the incident meets TCJS' guidelines for erroneous releases.
The mistaken release comes after Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told the Defenders his office was investigating whether some of the agency's recent erroneous releases were intentionally done by jail staff.
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"Can I honestly say that some of these haven't been done on purpose, to make the agency look bad? I can't say that, quite frankly. And we're looking at that with that in mind," Salazar said.
The remark sparked criticism Saturday night from the Deputy Sheriff's Association of Bexar County, which called for Salazar to apologize.
"It's time for the sheriff to stop making excuses for his failed leadership by whining to the press," the group said in a statement. "He needs to hold himself accountable and be the leader we expected him to be when we endorsed him in 2016. Finally, the DSABC demands that Sheriff Salazar apologize to the hard working and understaffed men and women who work in detention and law enforcement for placing blame on them instead of where it belongs, on him!"
Response to this weeks comments
Posted by Deputy Sheriff's Association of Bexar County on Saturday, August 17, 2019
During Friday's interview, Salazar said while some may oppose his methods, he also has supporters.
"A former sheriff once told me, 'Congratulations, you're now the sheriff' — this is before I took office — 'Congratulations, you're now the sheriff. On day two, half of your people are going to hate you.' And he said it in jest, but look, are there people there that desperately want to see me go away? Probably, yes. They're not fans of the changes that I've made to the agency. They're not fans of some of the people that I've promoted to be my command staff.
"There's always going to be that level of malcontent. They just aren't happy with anything. But there are people there that are supportive of what I do. Whether they can voice that openly or not, I don't know."