Dallas community leader Omar Salazar to be deported after 7 months in ICE custody following traffic stop, lawyers say
The Dallas community leader and SMU alum who has spent the past several months detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being accused of staying in U.S. illegally following a traffic stop last year lost his case Wednesday night and will be deported, his legal team confirmed.
After seven months inside ICE's Bluebonnet Detention Facility northwest of Abilene, Omar Salazar was told he will be sent back to Mexico, his lawyers and family said.
"Everyone was very saddened by the decision," said Jacob Momty, Omar Salazar's attorney. "They are resilient people, but this is really, really straining them. And, this was a very difficult night."
His lawyers said his voluntary departure must happen within 60 days.
"Today, we received the news we were hoping not to get," Omar Salazar's wife, Ella, wrote in a post on social media. "We lost our case. Omar will be sent back to Mexico soon and I will be following him once I am able to get my passport in order. I'm not sure if I will be able to keep things together well enough to finish out the semester at school, but I am glad that Omar and I were finally got to be together like we always planned. This experience has been awful and something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."
Details of Omar Salazar's traffic stop and ICE arrest
In August 2025, a Lubbock police spokesperson said Salazar did not use "a ramp properly to enter the loop" and changed "lanes unsafely." They said when he was pulled over, he "presented a Mexican ID" and did not have a valid U.S. driver's license.
Shortly after, ICE was contacted, and he was arrested.
The Southern Methodist University graduate was brought to the U.S. from Mexico as a minor, at age 11. He did not qualify for asylum, and he was not eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy; he missed the eligibility window by just a few months, according to family and lawyers.
His legal team says he has no criminal history, and while detained, he married his longtime girlfriend.
In September 2025, CBS News Texas reached out to ICE about Omar Salazar's case. At that time, a spokesperson said, "ICE officers will not wait for immigration violators to commit a crime before they are detained. For those who violate immigration laws, we are going to apprehend them and remove them."
Attorney calls outcome "a sad day for America"
Omar Salazar's legal team said that although they can appeal the decision, they are unsure if they will, because that could keep him detained another 8-12 months.
Since he's married to a U.S. citizen, Omar Salazar can apply to re-enter the country, but he will most likely have to wait 3-6 years to come back.
"Clearly a bad day for Omar, but a bad day for America," Monty said. "Omar represents the best of what America and Texas have to offer, and this was an opportunity to keep a family together, and instead, they are… the family's gonna stay together, but in Mexico. That's not the result that should have happened."
