On the evening of Feb. 5, at the front of the cafeteria at Govalle Elementary in East Austin, Lisa Davis, chief of the Austin Police Department, faced hundreds of community members.

Many were angry, asking the chief to account for the January deportation of Karen Gutiérrez Castellanos, and her U.S. citizen 5-year-old daughter, after she called 911 from her Oak Hill home, which Davis called “absolutely tragic.” Many were confused or scared, asking the chief to clarify exactly how APD is cooperating or not cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities.

“As a police chief, I understand the irony of all of this. When I’m here trying to ask everyone to trust us, to report crimes to us,” Davis said. Her first commitment to the community: “Austin Police Department does not ask immigration status.”

Davis explained that in February 2025, 700,000 administrative warrants – which differ from a judicial warrant and are not signed by a judge – were put into the system by ICE. Despite that difference, Davis said an administrative warrant looks like a detainer. “It also says ‘Call ICE,’ and it gives a phone number to call,” Davis said.

Davis told the room that in the case of Gutiérrez Castellanos, the officer was checking for a restraining order when the administrative warrant appeared. The officer then called ICE, who arrived within the hour. “Stop making excuses for what happened,” one person shouted.

“As a police chief, I understand the irony of all of this.”

APD Chief Lisa Davis

Davis said that Senate Bill 4, passed in 2017, bars her from prohibiting officers from calling ICE when they come across administrative warrants. “We cannot restrict officers from cooperating with ICE,” Davis said, stating that she personally will not call ICE when encountering an administrative warrant.

The community heavily protested that assertion, and asked the chief to “do the right thing” and resist state law. “Is the penalty deportation?” one person cried out. “Cowardice!” shouted several others.

APD’s revised general orders, Davis said, raise the officer’s decision to call ICE on an administrative warrant to their commander. Davis also responded affirmatively to a community member’s question that, while the decision is being taken to the commander, if there is no criminal reason for the person to be detained, if that individual is free to leave.

There was no update on which 287(g) agreement Travis County is considering adopting to potentially further cooperate with ICE, as Senate Bill 8 mandates by the end of the year. Under the least aggressive model, law enforcement officers could identify and process people for removal who are already arrested and detained in state or local jails under criminal or pending criminal charges.

Veronica and Nathan Sharp came to the forum hoping to share the information with their neighbors who couldn’t attend. Hundreds of members from their majority-Latino church have stayed home to watch Mass online, they said. “They’re afraid. The kids are afraid,” Veronica Sharp said. “There’s a lot of confusion. … I feel helpless sometimes, but I know that we have more power with people.”

This article appears in February 13 • 2026.

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