When Austin police officers encountered a Honduran mother and her 5-year-old U.S. citizen daughter during a predawn disturbance call in Southwest Austin on Monday, experts say they were not legally required to contact immigration authorities. Yet within hours, the pair was in federal custody.
The arrest has exposed a murky and largely unexamined area of Austin police practice: when and why officers communicate with federal immigration authorities after encountering administrative immigration warrants. Although some details of the case have emerged, Austin police have not explained if officers were required — or simply chose — to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
News of the mother and daughter’s detention was first reported by Univision on Wednesday, which shared the family’s search for the pair’s location. In its initial explanation of the mother’s arrest later that day, Austin police said only that it responded to a disturbance call in the Oak Hill neighborhood about 4:30 a.m. Monday. Police said an officer contacted ICE after running a background check and learning the woman had an ICE detainer request…