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The mayor of Houston said Friday that the city would limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, announcing “a new model” for immigration enforcement after Democrats won power in Texas for the first time in decades.
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Mayor John Whitmire stated that the city would go after immigrants “who pose a danger, not those who are attending to their family matters, work, and education”.
For a traffic incident “they won't even... be issued a ticket or warned, and they go on their way. No contact with (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for non-violent infractions that do not carry jail time. That reduces fear and anxiety”.
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The move by the country's fourth-largest city is one of the first steps to curtail the powers of ICE since Tuesday's election.
Under the mayor's new directive, Houston police must contact ICE only if the person they stop is arrested for a charge subject to incarceration or if ICE issues an administrative warrant, which is an order signed by a senior agency official stating that the person is sought by immigration authorities.
“The fact that a person is, or is suspected of being, subject to immigration enforcement shall not, by itself, be grounds to contact ICE, extend any detention, or detain any person or hold any person in custody,” the two-page order states.
The immigration offensive by President Donald Trump's administration in Houston sparked protests after an ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican homebuilder this summer and another struck a man with a car.
So far, ICE spokespeople have not responded to an email requesting comment on the mayor's announcement.
Last week, a grand jury indicted ICE agent Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors contend that Morales intentionally struck Miguel Parra Hernández with his car, fracturing his leg. ICE claims that Parra Hernández ran in front of the vehicle, a version that prosecutors say is contradicted by video.
Despite a one-time $75 billion infusion from Congress, ICE continues to rely heavily on local police to find people subject to deportation and turn them over. It has done so in part by signing some 2,600 agreements, many of them in Texas, to empower local police and other state and local agencies as agents to enforce immigration laws. Texas has been a primary target for ICE arrests.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has closely aligned the state with the Trump administration to collaborate on federal immigration enforcement. He lost his bid for a fourth term to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has worked with Parra Hernández's family, planned to hold a press conference Friday afternoon in light of the announcement.
“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.
[Publicidad]