Austin will change its rules for how police officers interact and cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mayor Kirk Watson said Friday.
Watson said he asked Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis to craft a new policy to be ready for when Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, takes over from Gov. Greg Abbott in January.
“I’m asking Chief Davis to update her general orders so that they can be effective when the new Governor comes into office to make sure that our policies align with Austin’s values and that they do not become outdated,” Watson said in a statement on the Austin City Council message board.
Austin’s policies around cooperating with ICE have been in flux all year amid a nationwide crackdown on immigration in U.S. cities. The Austin Police Department has changed its policy on collaborating with ICE agents twice in the last year.
The city first tweaked its policy in March to reduce ICE intervention in local policing. That was spurred by local uproar after a Honduran woman and her five-year-old daughter were arrested and deported after interacting with APD.
After a threat to withhold state money from Abbott, APD tweaked its policies on cooperating with ICE. But following Abbott’s stunning loss to Hinojosa on Tuesday, APD is changing its policy again.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire made a similar policy change Friday.
Watson said he expects less oversight on Austin’s policies in light of an incoming Democratic administration in the Texas Capitol.
“With the change in state leadership, I anticipate being able to better partner with the state on issues and without threats and undue pressure on local decisions, including those related to civil immigration enforcement,” Watson said.
Austin’s strategy this year has been to tweak the department’s internal rules for officers cooperating with ICE agents. APD has always notified ICE if an undocumented immigrant has a warrant for — or if they’re accused of committing — a violent crime. But its recent policies have given more latitude to officers on when they can cooperate with ICE agents.
The latest rules say if someone has an ICE administrative warrant — a noncriminal charge — officers should contact ICE “when operationally feasible.”
A state law, known as Senate Bill 4, bans so-called “sanctuary cities” from stopping law enforcement from interacting with ICE outright. That law, Watson said, is still the law and the city will follow it — for now. He said the federal crackdown and state preemption has created “a policy of fear.” Watson hopes the new policy will change that.
“Many Austinites in our community live in real fear—fear created not by local government but by other levels of government,” he said. “Austin has worked to mitigate that fear, and wherever we can, eliminate it.”