Dallas’ police oversight board endorsed a letter to city leaders calling for disclosure of police interactions with federal immigration authorities and policy changes around immigration enforcement in the city.
The City Council-appointed board voted 8-1 Tuesday to support the letter drafted by immigration advocates, marking the board’s sharpest statement on immigration enforcement during the Trump administration.
The three-page letter, backed by immigration and civil-rights groups and progressive political organizations, urges the city to require verifiable identification from federal agents, publish monthly reports on all Dallas police interactions with federal authorities and bar agents from entering nonpublic areas of city-funded facilities without a warrant signed by a judge.
“We would love to send this letter to all the council members in order to work together in building a local policy,” Azael Alvarez, an organizer with El Movimiento DFW, told the board during the meeting. He and other advocates argued a “policy gap” had allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to operate unfettered in Dallas neighborhoods.
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Immigration enforcement has become a recurring flashpoint at the oversight board’s monthly meetings, with members seeking a means to scrutinize operations in Dallas.
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The Tuesday vote comes as immigration enforcement has accelerated nationally — including in North Texas — under the Trump administration, with operations in Minneapolis and other cities prompting questions to municipal leaders across the country about how far police should go in supporting deportation efforts.
It also comes after Chief Daniel Comeaux rejected a request from the board last month for routine reporting on officers’ interactions with immigration officials. The chief had said such disclosures would endanger officers.
A Dallas police spokesperson said the police department valued transparency and remained committed to maintaining community trust. They echoed the chief’s rationale for rejecting the board’s prior request, saying the regular disclosure of details around law enforcement operations would compromise investigations and “create safety concerns for officers and the public.”
“We respect the role of the Community Police Oversight Board and appreciate their continued engagement on issues impacting public safety,” Allison Hudson, the police spokesperson, said in the statement Wednesday.
The letter’s demands mirror steps other big-city leaders have taken to limit immigration enforcement. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday issued an order directing city departments to keep federal immigration agents from using city-owned property as staging areas, processing locations or bases of operation.
Some similar efforts by states and municipalities have gone to court. A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked California’s ban on federal agents wearing face coverings, but allowed a separate law requiring visible identification to stand.
Before the board voted to endorse the letter, Chairman John Mark Davidson, a Mayor Eric Johnson appointee, said he was concerned that some members who were not at the meeting had not had a chance to read it or vote on it. The meeting itself began late with nine members after the board initially lacked a quorum by one. The board has 15 seats.
Police oversight board chairman John Mark Davidson (left) officiates the monthly Community Police Oversight Board meeting, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at Dallas City Hall in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
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The majority of the board members at the meeting voiced support for the letter. Some noted the balance Dallas police are trying to strike between community trust and legal requirements to work with federal authorities.
Julia Simon, the District 13 appointee of council member Gay Donnell Willis, was the lone board member to vote against endorsing the letter. She expressed concerns about how the letter was written and the prospect of the board supporting it.
“I don’t have a problem signing this as a citizen myself,” Simon said during the meeting. “As a board, I want to make sure the tone and the structure of what I present has a tone that understands that what I’ve been entrusted to do.”
Simon’s concerns were echoed by Davidson and Jennifer King, the District 10 appointee of council member Kathy Stewart. Both ultimately voted to enforce the letter.
Other members, like Walter Higgins, the District 3 appointee of council member Zarin Gracey, said supporting the letter was an example of the board working as intended.
“This is the core of what we need to be doing,” he said.