Houston's mayor signed an executive order on Friday, November 6, limiting how the Houston Police Department cooperates with federal immigration authorities — directing officers not to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over nonviolent, non-jailable offences such as traffic citations, in what Mayor John Whitmire called “a new model” of immigration enforcement after Democrats won power in Texas for the first time in decades in Tuesday's midterm elections, the Associated Press reported.

Source: Associated Press

Whitmire said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education.” A traffic incident, he said, “will not even … you write a citation or you warn them and they go about their way. No contact with (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) over nonviolent, non-jailable offenses. It reduces the fear and anxiety.”

Under the mayor's directive, Houston police should contact ICE only if the person they stop is arrested on a charge that is subject to jailing, or if ICE has issued an administrative warrant — an order signed by a senior ICE official indicating that the person is wanted by immigration officials. The two-page order states it plainly: “The fact that a person is, or is suspected to be, subject to immigration enforcement shall not, by itself, be a basis to contact ICE, to prolong any detention, or to take any person into or hold any person in custody.” Being suspected of an immigration violation alone is no longer a reason for a Houston officer to make the call, hold the person longer, or take them into custody.

The police chief's instructions take effect immediately

Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz Jr. said at the mayor's Friday press conference that the department was updating its directives to officers immediately following the order. Diaz explained that officers will contact ICE when a person is arrested for a new jailable offence and also has an administrative ICE warrant, and that police will no longer contact ICE over minor traffic violations or other non-jailable offences when no arrest is made. He said the department does not provide ICE with background information and has no radio contact with the agency.

Source: KPRC 2 Houston (press conference)

Why Houston, and why now: a summer of enforcement that turned deadly

The order lands after months in which the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Houston sparked protests. An ICE officer fatally shot a Mexican homebuilder in the city this summer, the AP reported, and another officer struck a man with a car. A grand jury last week indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon: prosecutors say Morales intentionally rammed his car into Miguel Parra Hernandez, whose leg was broken. ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle — an account prosecutors say is contradicted by video. The indictment is an allegation that a court will decide; Morales is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The politics around the order flipped on Tuesday. ICE remains heavily dependent on local police to find people subject to deportation and turn them over, the AP reported, and has signed about 2,600 agreements — many in Texas — to deputise local police and other state and local agencies to enforce immigration laws. Texas has been a primary target for ICE arrests, and Gov. Greg Abbott closely aligned the state with the Trump administration on enforcement. Abbott lost his bid for a fourth term on Tuesday to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Whitmire framed the timing himself, saying “elections matter.”

Reaction in Houston

FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family of Parra Hernandez, planned a press conference Friday afternoon in light of the announcement. “Today Houston won. The City of Houston city council had already decided this months ago,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, adding that it was time to follow through. Spokespersons for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the mayor's announcement, the AP reported. Beyond Houston, NPR reported that this week's exit polling showed a backlash against the administration's immigration sweeps in Texas, and advocates are asking governor-elect Hinojosa to end the partnerships between Texas local law enforcement and ICE altogether.

What it means for immigrant families — including Houston's Punjabi community

For immigrant families in Houston — among them the city's Punjabi and South Asian residents, and the truck drivers who move freight through the Port of Houston and along Interstates 10, 45 and 69 — the practical change is at the most common point of contact with the law: the traffic stop. Under the old practice, a stop that ended in a citation could still lead to a call to ICE. Under the order, a nonviolent, non-jailable encounter ends with the citation or the warning, as Whitmire put it, and the person goes about their way. The mayor's stated aim is to reduce the fear and anxiety that, advocates say, kept people from driving to work, school and medical care. The order does not change anyone's immigration status, and it does not protect anyone arrested on a jailable charge — that distinction is the centre of the new policy.

What happens next

The new directives apply to Houston officers immediately, Chief Diaz said. The questions that follow are now political and legal: whether the incoming state leadership in Austin challenges the order or seeks to enforce state cooperation laws against the city, whether ICE increases its own direct operations in Houston in response, and whether other Texas cities copy what Whitmire called a new model. FIEL's Friday press conference and any response from ICE and state officials are the next developments to watch. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as official responses are issued.