This story was updated Wednesday evening to include a copy of a new city legal memo and comments from Austin City Councilman José “Chito” Vela.
The Austin Police Department will change its rules over how officers report people to ICE, after the detention and apparent deportation of a Honduran mother and her 5-year-old daughter revealed the extent that local officers are cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
APD Chief Lisa Davis told The Texas Newsroom that she will create new department “general orders” that will explicitly state that local police can cooperate more fully with federal immigration officers in the execution of immigration warrants. She said the change reflects the fact that state law gives officers greater discretion in contacting ICE than is outlined in the department’s current policy…