Houston Mayor Signs Order: Police Will No Longer Contact ICE over Nonviolent Offenses
In Houston, Harris County, Texas, Mayor John Whitmire signed Executive Order 1-74 on Friday, November 6, directing the Houston Police Department to stop contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over nonviolent, non-jailable offenses. Under the new rules, officers may contact ICE only when a person is already going to jail on new criminal charges or another warrant and an NCIC check returns a hit for an ICE administrative warrant; being suspected of immigration enforcement exposure alone is not a basis to contact ICE, prolong a detention, or take a person into custody.
In a statement Friday afternoon, Whitmire said he had signed the order directing HPD to no longer contact ICE for nonviolent offenses, helping reduce fear in the community, and thanked Police Chief J. Noe Diaz Jr. and state and local leaders for their collaboration, calling it a step toward building a stronger Houston. He told reporters that if someone is charged with a new crime, police will let ICE know as they take the person to jail, while a routine traffic stop ends with a citation or a warning and the person goes on their way.
The order reverses a policy Whitmire and the police chief set in March, under which a sergeant had to be called to the scene when a background check turned up an immigration-related warrant. The change comes after Democrats swept Texas in the November 3 elections, defeating Republican Governor Greg Abbott's re-election bid; Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa takes office in January. The order does not restrict ICE from operating in Houston on its own.
(Source: Office of the Mayor of Houston)
Source: Office of the Mayor of Houston
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Photo: 图：休斯顿市政厅。图片来源：GSM 固定图库。 / Photo: Houston City Hall. Source: GSM asset library.
