A City Council member is floating a plan to reduce the Houston Police Department’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, weeks after Mayor John Whitmire acknowledged the agencies were working together.
HPD records show a more than 1,000% jump this year in HPD calls to ICE, largely during traffic stops, increasing concerns among immigration activists about the police department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Under a draft proposal from Council Member Letitia Plummer’s office obtained by the Houston Chronicle, police officers would have discretion on whether to call ICE during traffic stops. If approved, the measure would prohibit officers from keeping drivers stopped while waiting for immigration agents to arrive on scene, citing concerns about the legality of doing so…