Houston Council Members Introduce Bill to Codify New ICE Policy
The proposal requires police to contact immigration officials only for jailable offenses and mandates more detailed transparency reports from the Houston Police Department.
By Robert Ward ·
Houston city officials moved to formalize a shift in how local police interact with federal immigration agents on Sunday, following an executive order issued by Mayor John Whitmire earlier this week.
Council members Alejandra Salinas, Edward Pollard, and Tiffany Thomas introduced an ordinance that would limit Houston Police Department cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the proposed rules, officers would no longer be required to contact ICE when they hold a person solely on a civil administrative warrant. Instead, the department would notify ICE only if the individual is arrested for a jailable criminal offense.
The bill also expands the data provided in quarterly transparency reports. The new requirements would force the police department to list specific reasons for jail bookings and disclose whether the city contacted ICE regarding a victim or suspect.
In a joint statement, the three council members said, "For more than a year, Houston families, workers and advocates have demanded that City Hall limit HPD's cooperation with ICE. Our new Prop A immigration ordinance builds on the measure we successfully fought to pass earlier this year." They noted that the ordinance aligns the city code with the mayor's directive, a step designed to prevent future mayors from reversing the policy through executive action alone.
The initiative responds to an executive order Whitmire announced at a press conference on Nov. 6. In that announcement, the mayor stated that HPD would stop alerting ICE when an officer stops a person for a nonviolent offense. Whitmire described the move as the start of a healing process intended to reduce fear and anxiety in the community. He also noted that he had been in contact with new statewide elected officials and that Senate Bill 4, a state law prohibiting sanctuary city policies, is not currently a priority.
The city council will not place the ordinance on the agenda for its Nov. 10 meeting. Officials from Salinas' office indicated that the proposal is likely to appear on the docket in mid-November or early December. If the council votes to pass the measure, it would take effect immediately.
