The filing is the latest development in a months-long fight between immigration advocates and Mayor John Whitmire’s administration over how officers respond when they encounter residents with civil immigration warrants, 700,000 of which officials in President Donald Trump’s administration added to a federal database last year.
The lawsuit alleges Houston police stopped Erick Lopez, 29, for a traffic violation on June 17 and held him for two hours. He was deported June 27, according to the filing.
“Erick has no criminal record,” said Lopez’s attorney, Randall Kallinen, in a press release. “He was supporting a girlfriend with two children, doing tile and other flooring work.”
Representatives for Whitmire’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the filing.
These warrants are civil, not criminal, documents, and do not by themselves give local police the authority to detain someone.