Immigrant rights advocates gathered Friday outside Dallas City Hall to protest a potential partnership floated by Mayor Eric Johnson that would authorize some police officers to enforce federal immigration laws — a move critics say would erode trust between police and the city’s immigrant communities.
The event, organized by Vecinos Unidos DFW, the Mexican American Bar Association of Dallas and Somos Tejas, urged city leaders to reject entering into a “287(g) agreement,” a federal program that deputizes local officers to enforce immigration laws. Last week, Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux told the city’s Community Police Oversight Board that he had declined a $25 million offer to join the program, saying the department “absolutely” would not participate.
“We’re a statewide organization fighting for immigrant rights and immigrant dignity in Texas,” Jennifer Sanchez, a legislative coordinator with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said during Friday’s news conference, “but what we’re talking about today is Dallas’ deal with the devil, not about dignity.”
The spate of speakers at the news conference denounced the reimbursement proposal, with some applauding Comeaux for rejecting it. Some called on the City Council — particularly Johnson, who days after the oversight meeting suggested such a partnership may bolster city finances and serve as a “force multiplier” for the department — to hold a public meeting to debate the issue.
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A few of the speakers, including Noemi Rios, an organizer with Vecinos Unidos DFW, questioned Comeaux’s remarks that Dallas police have limited contact with federal immigration authorities, calling on the chief to cease any collaboration.
During the news conference, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno and council member Laura Cadena, who represent Districts 2 and 6, respectively, joined the crowd gathered beneath the flagpoles outside City Hall.
Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno speaks standing next to Council Member Laura Cadena as the 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 two released a joint statement questioning the proposal a day after four of their colleagues — council Members Chad West, Jaime Resendez, Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon — publicly criticized the proposal in their own joint statement.
Cadena and Moreno’s statement invited residents to share their views on the proposal with their offices. Moreno said he attended the news conference after hearing some feedback from constituents, though not yet in “large numbers,” Moreno said.
The two council members also said it was important, should consideration of the proposal move forward, for the discussions to be held in public view. Such a discussion, which could take place during a regularly scheduled City Council meeting, has not been scheduled.
Cadena said she believed there was little support among their colleagues for joining a federal immigration enforcement partnership, citing recent internal memos circulating in City Hall she has reviewed.
“But,” she added in an interview, “we have been called to have the dialogue in a public setting, and so I think that’s what we’re preparing to do.”