By Lekan Oyekanmi, Anna Wilder and Elliot Spagat
HOUSTON — The mayor of Houston on Friday said the city would limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, heralding “a new model” of immigration enforcement after Democrats won power in Texas for the first time in decades.
Mayor John Whitmire said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education.”
A traffic incident “will not even ... you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way. No contact with (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) over nonviolent, non-jailable offenses. It reduces the fear and anxiety.”
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The move by the nation’s fourth-largest city is one of the first steps to curb ICE’s powers since Tuesday’s election.
Under the mayor’s new directive, Houston police should contact ICE only if the person it stops is arrested on a charge that is subject to jailing or if ICE issues an administrative warrant, which is an order signed by a senior ICE official indicating that the person is wanted by immigration officials.
“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.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Houston has sparked protests after an ICE officer fatally shot a Mexican homebuilder this summer and another struck a man with a car.
Spokespersons for ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the mayor’s announcement.
A grand jury last week indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors say Morales intentionally rammed his car into Miguel Parra Hernandez, whose leg was broken. ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account that prosecutors say is contradicted by video.
Despite a one-time $75 billion infusion from Congress, ICE remains heavily dependent on local police to find people subject to deportation and turn them over. It has done so partly by signing about 2,600 agreements — many in Texas — to deputize local police and other state and local agencies to enforce immigration laws. Texas has been a primary target for ICE arrests.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has closely aligned the state with the Trump administration to collaborate on enforcing federal immigration laws. He lost his bid for a fourth term to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family of Parra Hernandez, planned to hold a press conference Friday afternoon in light of the announcement.
“Today Houston won. The City of 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.
Wilder reported from Austin, Texas; Spagat reported from San Diego.
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