Days after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and justices on the highest courts in Texas were ousted and a Democrat was elected attorney general, Houston Mayor John Whitmire issued an executive order directing local police to not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Whitmire made the announcement at a press conference Friday morning. The order changes Houston Police Department policy related to contact with ICE. He said he did it to “begin a healing process and reduce fear and anxiety across our community.”
The order directs Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz to issue a new guidance related to police officer contact with ICE related to illegal foreign nationals in custody. It limits HPD’s interaction with ICE to focus only on cases in which there are jailable offenses.
“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,” the mayor said. “And, above all else, it advances my highest priority: public safety. It will help ensure that individuals charged with new jailable offenses, including violent crimes, are removed from our streets.”
Whitmire also said, “No one should have to worry about HPD conducting a warrant search, including searches involving ICE, unless an individual is being charged with a new jailable offense, including dangerous or violent crimes.”
HPD will continue to call ICE on suspects linked to jailable offenses, which includes violent offenders, he said. The new policy will “improve public safety and reduce fear and anxiety among students, workers, and families,” he added.
After Whitmire signed the order, Diaz sent out a department-wide memo to update the new process.
“As the mayor stated, the message is clear,” he said. “ICE will only be contacted if someone commits a jailable offense. This means our officers will only contact ICE if someone they arrest also has an administrative ICE warrant.
“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,” he explained, referring to officers pulling over illegal foreign nationals. “HPD will no longer contact ICE if they have an administrative warrant and they are not arrested.”
The announcement comes seven months after Abbott threatened to cut funding over police policies in Democratic-run cities, including Houston. Earlier this year, the Houston City Council voted to restrict HPD from cooperating with ICE. The police departments of Austin and Dallas issued similar directives.
Not soon after, Abbott’s office notified Democratic mayors of their respective local governments failing to comply with state requirements to cooperate with ICE in order to receive grant money. They faced losing hundreds of millions of dollars for noncompliance.
The Austin, Dallas and Houston police departments immediately revised their policies in response, The Center Square reported.
When discussing the issue in city council meetings, Whitmire pointed to the Texas Supreme Court and 15th Court of Appeals, arguing there was no way the city could win any lawsuit on appeal.
On Tuesday, all incumbent Republican justices on the three highest courts in Texas running for reelection were voted out of office, The Center Square reported.
Now, that Abbott and the justices lost reelection and a new Democratic attorney general will be sworn in, Democratic-led cities are expected to implement a range of anti-ICE policies similar to Whitmire’s.
Recognizing that Abbott is still the governor through the middle of January, Whitmire said he “takes responsibility for making this change, even with the current administration still in office for the next two months.”
Whitmire also said he was already in contact with the new state leadership and bipartisan members of the state Legislature. “As I’ve said many times, elections matter. Quite frankly, this should be a nonpartisan issue.”
Democrats Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson are expected to reverse preexisting policies related to state border security. Comptroller-elect Sarah Eckhardt is expected to rescind grant funding for law enforcement participating with ICE. Appeals made to the highest courts related to these policy changes are expected to be lost with new Democratic judges sworn in next year.
Federal, state and Harris County investigations into ICE shootings in Houston are ongoing. A new attorney general could bring state charges against ICE officers in these cases.