Whitmire also urges Congress on ICE training, body cameras and de-escalation
Houston police chief Noe Diaz said Friday that officers will now only contact ICE if someone they arrest for a jailable offense also has an administrative ICE warrant; those warrants are issued internally by the Department of Homeland Security, the agency within which ICE operates. “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.
Under the previous rules, Houston officers were required to inform ICE if anyone they were dealing with came up as having one of those warrants attached to their name when they were searched on the National Crime Information Center, a digital database that includes records on wanted persons, stolen property, certain missing people and those arrested and fingerprinted for serious offenses.
Whitmire, a Democrat, said Friday that he had directed the Houston Police Department to limit its cooperation with federal immigration officials through an executive order, breaking with the policy set by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. “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.”
He also called on Congress to change federal immigration rules. “ICE needs better training. They need body cameras. They need to be trained in de-escalation,” Whitmire said. “But this can only be done in Washington. I can only control what I can control.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Houston’s NBC affiliate, KPRC 2, in a statement: “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 added: “Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country.”
The directive reverses course for a mayor who had previously resisted similar changes over concerns that the White House could respond by sending a surge of immigration officials to Houston, and who has previously faced criticism for abiding by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.
Austin has also begun implementing a similar policy change. Abbott, who lost his re-election bid, has threatened to pull millions in funds from cities like Houston, Dallas and Austin unless they allow police to cooperate fully with federal immigration officials. Abbott’s office was contacted for comment.
The announcement came days after Democrats won both the US Senate and the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections, taking control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidency. Texas, a long-time Republican stronghold, elected Gina Hinojosa as its first Latina governor and its first Democratic governor since 1995, and chose its first Democratic senator since 1988.
Whitmire’s announcement follows months of public outcry in Houston after an ICE officer fatally shot a man who was driving to work earlier this year. Large protests broke out in the city after the shooting. The man who died, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, was a 52-year-old Mexican national who had lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant for decades, and officials said after the incident that he was not the intended target.
The announcement came a week after an ICE officer in Texas was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly hit a man with a vehicle.