Houston Mayor Signs Executive Order: Police to Contact ICE Only on Jailable Offenses, Not Routine Stops
Houston Mayor John Whitmire, whose city sits in Harris County, Texas, signed an executive order on November 6 directing the Houston Police Department (HPD) to change its guidance on contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): officers will now contact ICE only in cases involving jailable offenses, and routine encounters that do not lead to an arrest will no longer trigger a call to federal immigration authorities solely because a person has an administrative immigration warrant. The order took effect immediately.
In a November 6 news release, the City of Houston said Police Chief Noe Diaz sent a department-wide memo after the signing to update the process. "Today, we're changing the policy through this executive order," Whitmire said. "I hope people understand why we're doing this. It's about reducing fear and anxiety, not just within certain communities, but across all of Houston. We don't want people worrying about their jobs, their family members, or their students. This policy helps unify Houston. And, above all else, it advances my highest priority: public safety."
According to the Associated Press, the two-page order states that 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 a detention, or to take the person into custody. Department personnel contact ICE only when the person is already going to jail on new charges or other warrants and a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) search shows a match for an ICE administrative warrant. Diaz gave an example at the announcement: an officer who stops someone for a minor traffic infraction and writes a citation sends that person on their way, and HPD will no longer contact ICE even if the person has an administrative warrant and is not arrested.
"As I've said many times, elections matter," Whitmire said in the city's statement. "I've been in contact with the new state leadership and bipartisan members of the Legislature. Quite frankly, this should be a nonpartisan issue." The Associated Press reported that the order came days after Texas voters elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa to succeed the governor, and that the shift in the nation's fourth-largest city is among the first steps by a major U.S. city to curb cooperation with ICE after Tuesday's midterm elections.
The new policy does not limit ICE's own authority to operate in Houston, and it does not change what happens after a person is booked into the Harris County jail, which is a county decision. Texas Senate Bill 4, a 2017 state law, bars local governments from adopting policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and the order's relationship with that law is expected to be scrutinized.
(Source: City of Houston)
Source: City of Houston
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