Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar speaks during a rally at San Antonio’s Progresso Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Michael Karlis
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar called President Donald Trump a “pseudo-dictator” and lambasted the administration for politicizing law enforcement during a San Antonio rally against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to clip the wings of this administration,” Salazar, a Democrat, said to cheers from the at-capacity crowd in the West Side’s Progresso Hall. “These pseudo-dictators, these pseudo-emperors — they think they run things. We need to show them what we’re capable of.”
Salazar’s comments — which stand in stark contrast to rhetoric spouted by top federal law-enforcement honchos following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at ICE’s hands — came during a rally organized by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.
“We are a country of laws, and you can be a country of laws and a country of compassion if you do it right and do it with heart,” Salazar said.
The sheriff continued: “I have watched my profession that I love, that I have devoted my entire adult life to, be politicized and weaponized against our community. I’m watching folks that ‘kind of’ wear a uniform murdering people on live TV. And then I’m watching them defend that and tell you that what you saw was not murder. We know what we saw.”
Wednesday’s rally was attended by a Who’s Who of South Texas Democratic politicos. Speakers included Castro, U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Greg Casar along with former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, State Sen. Jose Menendez and State Reps. Gina Hinojosa, Trey Martinez Fischer and Diego Bernal.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones was notably absent because she’s attending the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. She’s expected back in San Antonio on Friday, her office said.
The rally came after Castro and Crockett visited the South Texas Residential Center earlier in the day to meet with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week, sparking national outcry.
“Liam did not look well,” Castro said during the rally. “My staff and I are very concerned about him.”
As Castro and Crockett visited the facility, troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety teargassed an already dispersing crowd of protesters outside.
During his speech at the rally, Nirenberg called out DPS for excessive use of force and called their actions “wrong.”
Castro and his staff plan to return to the migrant detention center in Dilley next week for a follow-up visit with Ramos.
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