CHINA GROVE, Texas – A man who was in the country illegally was arrested in a small city east of San Antonio and placed in an unmarked vehicle around 5:30 p.m. on July 6 following a traffic stop.
A KSAT crew witnessed the arrest and an officer in plain clothes place the man into the back seat of an unmarked vehicle with flashing law enforcement lights. China Grove Police Department conducted the initial traffic stop, and KSAT was in the area working on a story about the 287(g) program that the department participates in.
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The China Grove Police Department sergeant on scene said he would not provide information on the arrest other than it being a traffic stop.
KSAT reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asking if this was an ICE arrest, considering the 287(g) program China Grove is a part of that an ICE spokesperson informed KSAT about less than one week prior.
An ICE spokesperson replied in part, “To assist in confirming whether this was an ICE operation, we would need visuals.”
KSAT sent the below photo from the arrest to the spokesperson:
ICE replied, “Zaria, this was not ICE. Thank you.”
KSAT also reached out to China Grove police about the traffic stop considering the use of an unmarked vehicle and ICE denying its involvement.
China Grove Police Chief Ralph Sramek said, “During the stop, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was contacted and assumed the encounter. Any further enforcement action was handled by ICE.”
The conflicting accounts of which agency arrested the person pictured led to more questions. KSAT then emailed the ICE media contact at 7:43 p.m. on July 6 asking if they knew what other agency would have a person in an unmarked vehicle, black T-shirt and green vest. There was no reply.
Two people who identified themselves as family members of the man who was being arrested reached out to KSAT after seeing him on social media. They identified his name and date of birth to KSAT.
KSAT shared that information with ICE to see if that is who was arrested following the China Grove traffic stop.
KSAT emailed ICE three more times. One email informed ICE that China Grove police said ICE did make the arrest, one email requested information on a person believed to be the person arrested and in ICE custody, and a third email followed up on the previous emails.
At 3:52 p.m. Tuesday, an ICE spokesperson said “On July 6, ICE immigration officers designated under the 287(g) program arrested Manuel Rabago Najera a 61-year-old illegal alien from Mexico during an enforcement action in China Grove, Texas. ICE records indicate he entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and time.”
KSAT is in touch with Najera’s family, who confirmed he is in the country illegally.
It is unclear why the ICE spokesperson initially told KSAT the arresting agency was not ICE. A spokesperson had not replied to KSAT’s inquiry about the conflicting information on the arresting agency at the time of this story’s publication.
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