Houston Implements Policy to Reduce Police Cooperation with ICE

Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced on Friday that the city will restrict collaboration with federal immigration officials, introducing what he described as “a new model” for immigration enforcement following recent Democratic victories in Texas elections.

Whitmire emphasized that the policy targets individuals who pose a threat, rather than those engaged in everyday activities such as family life, work, or education.

According to the mayor, routine traffic stops will not lead to immigration enforcement. Officers will issue citations or warnings without contacting ICE for nonviolent, minor offenses, aiming to alleviate community fear and anxiety.

This initiative marks one of the earliest attempts to limit ICE’s authority since the midterm elections, in which Democrats gained control in Texas after decades.

This policy shift comes in the wake of a July incident where ICE agents fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during a traffic stop in Houston while searching for other individuals.

The shooting deeply affected residents of Houston’s Magnolia Park neighborhood and further strained Texas’s housing construction industry, which has been hemorrhaging skilled workers at high rates.

A neighbor, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, told The Guardian, “We feel it on a level we can’t even describe. Everybody knows that what happened is wrong. How will we not stand with our people, stand behind them, especially when something so vicious and ugly happened?”

The new directive specifies that Houston police will only notify ICE if an individual is arrested for a jailable offense or if ICE presents an administrative warrant signed by a senior official.

“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 any detention, or to take any person into or hold any person in custody,” the two-page order states.

ICE spokespersons were not immediately available for comment on the mayor’s announcement.

In October, an ICE agent struck a person with their vehicle during a pursuit of a different suspect, a case complicated by the fact that the individual’s family stated he had died years earlier.

A grand jury indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors allege that Morales intentionally rammed his vehicle into Miguel Parra Hernandez, breaking his leg, while ICE claims Hernandez ran in front of the car—an assertion prosecutors say is refuted by video evidence.

Despite a $75 billion congressional funding boost, ICE continues to rely significantly on local law enforcement to identify and detain individuals for deportation. This reliance is partly due to approximately 2,600 agreements, many in Texas, that deputize local police to enforce immigration laws, making Texas a focal point for ICE operations.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has closely partnered with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, but he recently lost his re-election bid to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.

Fiel, a Houston-based immigrant rights organization that has been advocating for the family of Miguel Parra Hernandez, scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon to address the policy change.

“Today Houston won. The Houston city council had already decided this months ago,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of Fiel Houston, adding that it was time to follow through.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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