Dozens of Houston residents packed City Hall to demand the city cut ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but many left angry when most registered speakers never got the chance to speak. The public-comment period was cut short when the meeting was adjourned hours early, prompting chants of “Let us speak! Let us speak!” inside the chambers, according to Houston Chronicle.
Nearly 80 people had registered, but some names were called before attendees were physically in the room, causing confusion and frustration. Council Member Edward Pollard offered to continue hearing speakers on the first floor, but Mayor John Whitmire chose to adjourn the meeting, which had been scheduled to run until 9 p.m.
Outrage Tied To Federal Shootings In Minnesota
Many in the crowd said their anger was sharpened by national outrage over recent federal enforcement actions in Minneapolis, including the killing of Alex Pretti last Saturday and the earlier death of Renée Good, incidents that have sparked demonstrations across the country. Video footage and reporting have raised questions about federal accounts of those encounters, adding fuel to local demands for limits on police cooperation with ICE. Recent coverage of those incidents is detailed by Associated Press.
What Protesters Asked For
Speakers inside and outside the chambers pressed the council to stop referring people to ICE after traffic stops, to end other routine cooperation that can lead to detentions, and to fund immigrant legal services for residents facing removal proceedings. Activists said their goal is to rebuild trust with immigrant communities and keep local policing from doubling as immigration enforcement. Records cited by the Houston Chronicle show Houston police contacted ICE more than 100 times between January and October of last year, a tally protesters pointed to as evidence that the city is more entwined with federal immigration actions than officials sometimes acknowledge.
Legal Constraints And What The City Can Do
A 2017 state law commonly known as SB4 limits how far Texas cities can go in restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and that statute has survived major legal challenges in the courts. An explainer from The Texas Tribune lays out the law and the penalties municipalities could face under SB4, and the Fifth Circuit’s decision in City of El Cenizo v. Texas, available on Justia, clarifies which provisions remain enforceable. Even so, advocates and some legal experts note there are narrower policy levers available to city leaders, including greater transparency about HPD contacts with ICE, internal oversight of officer practices, and increased funding for local legal defense services, that do not require changing state law, according to The Texas Tribune.
What’s Next
Organizers signaled they intend to keep pressuring city officials, and local outlets have tracked a rolling series of demonstrations at City Hall and downtown since the first Minneapolis shooting that helped ignite the national outcry. Those earlier local actions and the broader movement around them were compiled in a roundup of Houston protests published earlier this month, as activists weigh their next steps, as per Hoodline.
