SAN ANTONIO – A traffic stop brought multiple law enforcement agencies, including federal officers, to a West Side library parking lot on Wednesday morning.
According to a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) spokesperson, a trooper initiated a traffic stop just before 9 a.m. outside the entrance of the Las Palmas Branch Library located in the 500 block of Castroville Road.
The spokesperson said the driver of the vehicle “was initially uncooperative regarding his identity.”
Witnesses, who were at the library to participate in early voting, told KSAT they saw what they believed to be a swarm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers surround the stopped vehicle in a matter of moments.
“They stopped him, and DPS stays in their car for about two minutes,” Diana Castillo Perez, who captured parts of the incident on her phone, told KSAT. “So, in two minutes like roaches, you see nine cars show up. They all get out.”
In video shared to Perez’s Facebook page, at least two people wearing camoflauge-colored gear that reads “Federal Officer” and “Police” on their backs were seen talking to a man sitting in a blue pickup truck.
Perez accused the federal officers of taking pictures of other vehicles’ license plates in the parking lot.
“Once those people show up, they’re intimidating,” Perez said.
Minutes later, the video showed a DPS trooper take the man into custody without further incident. The agency identified the man as Rogelio Cortez, 50.
Troopers said Cortez had an outstanding vehicle burglary warrant out of Bexar County. Cortez was transported to the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
DPS said its investigation remains ongoing.
KSAT reached out to ICE for comment. An ICE spokesperson directed KSAT to DPS because it was DPS’ “traffic stop.”
KSAT also asked the spokesperson if ICE officers responded to the scene. The agency has yet to respond to that question.
Following the DPS arrest, Perez briefly spoke to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar outside the library, who responded to the scene.
“ICE had already left, so he (Salazar) told DPS, ‘Y’all need to get out of here because it’s intimidating the voters,’” Perez told KSAT. “But he did a great job. Javier did a tremendous job.”
‘Polling sites are safe’
In a statement to KSAT, the county acknowledged the traffic stop outside Las Palmas Branch Library — one of Bexar County’s polling locations.
“The individual involved was not a voter, and the incident did not affect access to the polling site or disrupt voting operations in any way,” county officials said.
In a statement sent Wednesday afternoon, Salazar said the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and its deputies “are in charge of election security.”
“I want to assure everybody that polling sites are safe and secure,” Salazar said. “I’ve gotten some assurances that federal authorities are not, in fact, targeting polling sites — as they should not. My understanding is that this morning (Wednesday)’s incident was incidental to a traffic stop made by a DPS trooper."
Though he did not mention any other law enforcement agencies on scene by name, Salazar said the DPS trooper he talked to was “extremely professional.”
“He (the DPS trooper) understood that his marked unit (DPS vehicle) was possibly an aggravating factor (for voters), so he departed and left the scene,” Salazar said. “We would like people to go out and make their voices heard.”
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