Houston mayor limits police cooperation with immigration authorities

Houston Mayor John Whitmire has ordered city police to limit when they contact federal immigration authorities, saying the change will ease fear in the community after months of protests over a fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Whitmire, a Democrat, announced the executive order Friday, days after his party won control of Texas’s governorship and both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who had pressed Texas cities to cooperate with federal immigration officials, lost his re-election bid to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

“I do this to begin a healing process,” Whitmire said, and to “reduce fear and anxiety across our community”. He added: “I also do this knowing that elections matter.”

Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said officers will now contact ICE only when someone they arrest for a jailable offense also has an administrative ICE warrant. Such warrants are issued within the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE. Previously, officers were required to notify ICE whenever a check of a person’s name in a national law enforcement database showed one of the warrants.

“For example, if our police officers pull someone over for a minor traffic infraction and they write a citation, that person receives a citation and goes about their day,” Diaz said.

The Guardian described the directive as allowing police to contact ICE if a person is arrested on a jailable charge or has an administrative warrant. The order itself says suspected immigration violations alone cannot justify contacting ICE, extending a detention or holding someone in custody.

Whitmire said Houston would focus on immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education”. Austin has also begun implementing a similar change, according to the BBC.

A DHS spokesperson criticized the Houston decision in a statement to local broadcaster KPRC 2. “We remain disappointed that sanctuary politicians seek to limit cooperation with ICE, as our law enforcement are simply fulfilling their sworn duties to serve and protect our communities,” the spokesperson said, adding that local partnerships help ICE make arrests.

The policy follows the July killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, by an ICE officer in Houston. Officials said Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the United States without legal status for decades, was not the intended target. His death prompted large protests. Separately, an ICE officer was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly striking a man with a vehicle in October.

Abbott has threatened to withdraw millions of dollars in funding from cities, including Houston, Dallas and Austin, unless their police cooperate fully with federal immigration authorities, the BBC reported. Whitmire had previously resisted calls to change Houston’s policy, citing concern that the White House might respond by sending more immigration officers.

Whitmire also called on Congress to change federal immigration rules and said ICE officers need better training, body cameras and de-escalation training. “But this can only be done in Washington,” he said. “I can only control what I can control.”