Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar speaks during the department’s most recent career fair. Credit: Facebook / Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar during a Tuesday CNN appearance urged San Antonio social media users to stop spreading misinformation about purported Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

Over the past few days, social media platforms — especially TikTok — have been awash in clips purportedly showing federal immigration carrying out raids across San Antonio.

Those videos have included erroneous claims about ICE sweeps at University Hospital and inside Southside flea markets. One TikTok clip with more than 500 shares purportedly shows a caravan of police cars driving to San Antonio to conduct immigration raids.

Salazar warned that the spreading of rumors stirs fear among local residents.

“I know that social media sometimes really helps, and sometimes it tends to get in the way with promoting rumors and things like that, which do nothing to bring down the anxiety and fear level in our community,” Salazar told CNN in an interview later picked up by News4SA.

Salazar, a Democrat, said that his department hasn’t been asked to participate in any San Antonio raids. Despite social media reports, ICE isn’t conducting raids at schools or churches around the city, he added.

“My understanding is [ICE] is not just going to be going willy-nilly, school-to-school, church-to-church to see which kids or teachers or whoever may be undocumented,” Salazar said.

President Trump signed an executive order last week allowing ICE agents to make arrests at schools and churches — a reversal of an earlier policy barring the agency from carrying out immigration enforcement in such sensitive locations.

Salazar told CNN a high-ranking official inside the administration told him the order was intended to give ICE leeway to go after drug dealers and other criminals who try to evade arrest warrants by stepping onto school or church grounds.

The sheriff added that his department will not proactively provide ICE with information on residents’ immigration status.

“I would prefer that immigrants in our community, whether documented or undocumented, feel comfortable coming to me, especially if they’re a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime,” Salazar said. “Come to me and report that. We’re not going to look to deport you. We’re not going to mistreat you. We’re going to treat you like a victim or a witness.”

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