Houston mayor signs order to limit cooperation with ICE, says 'elections matter' after Democrats win
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s mayor on Friday directed police to limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, signing an order that he called a direct result of Democrats reclaiming power in Texas for the first time in decades.
The shift in the nation’s fourth-largest city is one of the first actions to restrict U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations since Democrats’ rout in Tuesday’s midterm elections. It also is a sign that results are already having an impact in Texas, where Republican leaders have enthusiastically embraced President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
The stunning victories included Democrat Gina Hinojosa ousting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, which will make her Texas’ first Latina governor and the first member of her party to hold the office in more than 30 years.
“I’ve said many times, elections matter,” Mayor John Whitmire said.
Whitmire, a Democrat, said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education.” In the case of a traffic incident, “you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way,” he said.
Under the mayor's new directive, Houston police should contact ICE only if the person it stops is arrested on a charge that is subject to jailing or if ICE issues an administrative warrant, which is an order signed by a senior ICE official indicating that the person is wanted by immigration officials.
“The fact that a person is, or is suspected to be, subject to immigration enforcement shall not, by itself, be a basis to contact ICE, to prolong any detention, or to take any person into or hold any person in custody,” the two-page order states.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Houston has sparked protests after an ICE officer fatally shot a Mexican homebuilder this summer and another struck a man with a car.
Spokespersons for ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the mayor’s announcement.
A grand jury last week indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors say Morales intentionally rammed his car into Miguel Parra Hernandez, whose leg was broken. ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account that prosecutors say is contradicted by video.
Despite a one-time $75 billion infusion from Congress, ICE remains heavily dependent on local police to find people subject to deportation and turn them over. It has done so partly by signing about 2,600 agreements — many in Texas — to deputize local police and other state and local agencies to enforce immigration laws. Texas has been a primary target for ICE arrests.
Abbott has closely aligned the state with the Trump administration to collaborate on enforcing federal immigration laws. In April, he had threatened to take away nearly $200 million in public safety grants from Austin, Dallas and Houston after city officials in Houston tried to limit police officers’ cooperation with ICE.
Houston's City Council passed an ordinance eliminating the requirement for Houston police officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE agents to pick up someone with a nonjudicial administrative warrant. If ICE agents didn’t show up in time, police officers took a detained person’s information and were able to release them.
Abbott said the ordinance violated the terms of millions of dollars in state grants Houston had received for police and security during the World Cup games the city hosted in June. Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit, accusing the city of violating a 2017 state law that prevents cities from adopting policies that limit the enforcement of immigration laws.
The city changed the ordinance two weeks after passing it to delete language stating that administrative warrants — which ICE agents use to take individuals into custody, unlike warrants signed by a judge — are not enough for officers to arrest or detain an individual.
FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family of Parra Hernandez, planned to hold a press conference Friday afternoon in light of the announcement.
Prior to the changes, immigration enforcement “looked like a complete collaboration between Houston Police Department and ICE,” Cesar Espinosa, executive director at FIEL, said in an interview with The Associated Press. He said the collaboration paralyzed communities too afraid of getting stopped for a traffic ticket or getting referred to ICE when calling for help when witnessing a crime.
“It gives our community a sigh of relief in that we know of many people in the city of Houston that will not even go to the grocery store because they’re afraid that they’re going to get caught up by ICE or they’re gonna get pulled over by HPD and HPD is gonna call ICE on them,” Espinosa said.
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Wilder reported from Austin, Texas, and Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press reporter Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
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