TX - Immigrants set free after local bailout

Deputies: Illegal immigrants released after federal officials refuse to pick them up

Posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:28 pm | Updated: 5:29 pm, Wed Jan 8, 2014.
Felicia Frazar
Sequin Gazette

SEGUIN — A pursuit ended after several people bailed out of a vehicle near State Highway 123 Bypass at the railroad tracks on Tuesday night.

An initial search of the area didn’t turn up any suspects, but several were later found near a local restaurant.

Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Koch said a K9 deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a GMC Envoy heading eastbound on Interstate 10 near FM 464 around 7:45 p.m.

“When the deputy flipped his lights on, the driver of the Envoy put his flashers on and continued traveling eastbound at 50-60 miles an hour,” he said.

The vehicle exited Intestate 10 at Austin Street but kept traveling east on the access road, Koch said.

“They then cut through the Valero parking lot and then continued south on State Highway 123 Bypass until he crossed over the railroad tracks,” he said. “The vehicle then crossed the median, drove across the northbound lanes and down into the weeds.”

Once the vehicle was deep into the grassy area, nearly a dozen people jumped out of the vehicle and fled, mostly running east, Koch said.

Deputies contacted the Seguin Police Department for assistance, but were unable to catch up with any of the suspects, Koch said.

The vehicle was taken into evidence and came back registered out of Houston, Koch said.

An emergency notification was sent out to residents who live in the area to be on the lookout for any suspicious people in the area, Koch said.

Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Slaughter said, several of the suspects were later found and detained at Dairy Queen on Kingsbury Street.

“We contacted ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) but they didn’t respond, so those detained were released,” he said.

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