Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
Houston City Council Member Letitia Plummer on June 2, 2021.
A proposal intended to reduce the Houston Police Department’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to gain support from key council members and the city attorney this week.
Council member Letitia Plummer’s proposed measure would grant discretion to HPD officers who encounter people with federal immigration warrants. Currently, officers are required to contact ICE to notify them of warrants; the update would change “shall” to “may” in the city code.
“In a sanctuary city, in an area where we have majority-minority communities, heavily immigrant population, we need to do right, and we need to protect them in the best way that we can,” Plummer said on Wednesday.
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The Migration Policy Institute estimated there were 610,000 immigrants living without authorization in Harris County as of 2023.
The proposal was leaked in November to the Houston Chronicle, which reported a significant increase in HPD’s calls to ICE over the past year. City Attorney Arturo Michel at the time told Houston Public Media that the measure “presents several legal obstacles, based on a preliminary review.”
An updated draft, which Plummer shared with Houston Public Media, attempted to reduce legal liability by removing a prohibition on officers prolonging traffic stops because of an ICE warrant. But, Michel said on Wednesday, “There still are concerns.”
He pointed to a state law heavily curtailing municipalities’ ability to reduce collaboration with ICE. Council member Julian Ramirez echoed those concerns, saying, “When people say HPD should not have any cooperation with ICE, that is simply not possible under state law, and to enact a policy or an ordinance to say otherwise would violate state law.”
Under state law, cities may not “adopt, enforce, or endorse a policy under which the entity or department prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws.” Elected officials who violate the law could be removed from office.
A spokesperson for Mayor John Whitmire did not respond to a request for comment on his position.
Plummer said she hadn’t yet heard challenges to her proposal from the city’s legal department. The measure was already supported by council member Tarsha Jackson, and it required the signature of one other council member to be placed on the agenda for consideration.
Plummer said she would seek support from council members Joaquin Martinez and Mario Castillo.
“Because I believe that we have a responsibility, and we’ve got Latino representation on council,” Plummer said. “We need one other person, and we can bring this to council and have an educated, robust conversation of how the interactions and correlations are between ICE and HPD.”
Asked by Houston Public Media about their inclination, neither Martinez nor Castillo expressed support for the proposal.
“Unfortunately, because it was leaked (to the Houston Chronicle), I just can’t — I can’t trust this process,” Martinez said. “I really want to get something done at the end of the day. I don’t want to be used as a pawn either, quite frankly. I think the work needs to be done, but the work also entails that we go through the right process.”
In addition to concerns about the way the measure was rolled out, Martinez said the proposed change could lead to “unintended consequences” — such as intervention from state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Castillo echoed concerns about legal liability and unwanted scrutiny from higher levels of government.
“I definitely understand the people who want local government to do something to push back or to fight, and there is a balance because they are federal operators and we are municipal operators,” Castillo said. “So there’s ways that I think we can be productive, and there’s ways that I think would be counterproductive, and some of the ideas would be counterproductive in drawing folks that are vulnerable sort of into dangerous positions.”
The lack of momentum marked a blow for Plummer during her last month in office. She’s stepping down at the end of the year for a bid to replace Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Early voting to fill her at-large seat on the city council runs through Tuesday, Dec. 9, and the election is slated for Saturday, Dec. 13.
The contenders to fill her position — trial attorney Alejandra Salinas and former District D city council member Dwight Boykins — have expressed differing levels of concern about HPD’s coordination with ICE.
Asked about HPD working with ICE, Salinas advocated for a legal fight.
“I recognize we are under very draconian limits that the state legislature and Greg Abbott have placed on Houston,” Salinas told Houston Public Media, “but I think we need to figure out everything in our power to push back and protect the communities as much as we can under the letter of the law — and where the law is wrong, we need to fight back and bring litigation.”
Boykins argued “it’s irresponsible for us to be using our police force when we’re in shortage to take on something that I think is a federal issue” — but he added officers must adhere to their legal obligations.
“If they pull over a person — not just a person that has an ICE warrant, anyone that have a warrant — you need to follow the law,” Boykins said. “That’s just the bottom line with that, and I’m OK with that, but just pulling people over based on racial profiling and other issues, you know, I’m not there.”