Two Dallas City Council committees will hold a joint meeting Thursday to discuss a proposal that would authorize city police officers to help enforce federal immigration laws.
The city’s public safety and government efficiency committees are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. in the council chambers at City Hall. The meeting will be open to the public and streamed live on the city’s website.
The planned discussion follows Chief Daniel Comeaux’s disclosure last month that he had turned down a $25 million offer from the federal government to have Dallas police join the 287(g) program. The chief’s remarks sparked debate, public statements from City Council members and outcry from immigrant advocate groups.
The program, named after its statutory citation in Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, would entrust local officers with duties typically reserved for federal immigration authorities. The Department of Homeland Security’s website says the agency would reimburse the city for participating officers’ salaries and benefits, covering their full pay and up to 25% in additional overtime.
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Jennifer Sanchez, a legislative coordinator with the Texas Civil Rights Project, speaks as community group Vecinos Unidos DFW, the Dallas Hispanic Bar Association, and Somos Tejas hold a press conference calling on the city and Dallas Police to reject collaboration with ICE/DHA under the 287(g) program outside of Dallas City Hall in Dallas on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
The program is part of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation agenda. It operates under three models: two based in jails, and a task force model that allows local officers to question and detain people about their immigration status during routine patrols.
Mayor Eric Johnson appeared to take issue with Comeaux’s decision to turn down the offer to join the program without consulting the City Council. In a memo last month, the mayor wrote the program could bolster the city’s finances and serve as a “force multiplier” for the local police force. He called for the special joint meeting of the committees to debate the proposal.
Johnson specifically highlighted the program’s task force model, writing that participation “could provide significant financial benefits to the city” and be used to hire additional officers with no impact on the city’s budget.
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Johnson’s memo prompted 10 council members — Chad West, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno, Jaime Resendez, Laura Cadena, Adam Bazaldua, Lorie Blair, Paula Blackmon, Kathy Stewart, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Gay Donnell Willis and Paul Ridley — to issue public statements arguing immigration enforcement should remain a federal responsibility. Some said the partnership would undermine public trust in the police department.
Comeaux expanded on his decision in a memo Thursday, saying the program would place Dallas officers under federal supervision — a move he warned could slow 911 response times and “erode the public trust our department has worked hard to build.”
Dallas chief of public safety, Dominique Artis (left) and police chief Daniel Comeaux exit the dais following appearing in front of the board members during the monthly Community Police Oversight Board meeting, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Dallas City Hall in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
“I take full responsibility for our commitment to public safety, and we continue to evaluate all opportunities for its enhancement,” the chief wrote in the Oct. 31 memo, “but committing to the 287(g) program would require an operation change away from the aforementioned goals making our city less safe.”
As of Oct. 31, 206 Texas agencies were participating in the program, according to a list published on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s website.
The majority of participants, the list shows, are county sheriff’s offices, with a smaller number of municipal departments and three state entities: the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Criminal Investigations Division, the Texas National Guard, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
If Dallas were to adopt the task force model, it would represent an unprecedented move among major U.S. cities. None of the nation’s 15 most populous cities — Dallas among them — has police departments participating under that version of the program.
The city’s public safety committee is chaired by council member Cara Mendelsohn, who represents District 12 in Far North Dallas. The government efficiency committee is chaired by council member Maxie Johnson, who represents District 4 in south Oak Cliff.