HOUSTON — A Honduran man who was deported from the United States in June sued the City of Houston, alleging Houston Police Department officers unlawfully detained him for about two hours while waiting for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to take him into custody.
Erick Lopez, 29, filed the federal lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. His lawsuit alleges that HPD officers violated his Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights during a traffic stop June 17.
According to the lawsuit, HPD officers stopped Lopez at about 10 p.m. for allegedly failing to yield at a stop sign. Lopez showed officers his Honduran identification card when they asked for his driver’s license, according to his attorney, Randall Kallinen.
The lawsuit alleges that officers searched Lopez’s vehicle without probable cause, had it towed and contacted ICE after learning he was a Honduran citizen. Officers then held Lopez for at least two hours until ICE agents arrived and took him into custody, according to the lawsuit.
Kallinen said Tuesday that the detention amounted to false arrest, unlawful detention and an unreasonable search of Lopez and his vehicle.
Lopez had lived in the United States for at least 10 years and worked in home flooring, Kallinen said. He also had a pending immigration court case when HPD detained him.
ICE later transferred Lopez to an immigration detention facility in Montgomery County before deporting him to Honduras on June 27, according to Kallinen.
The lawsuit seeks damages for alleged mental anguish, lost wages and opportunities, loss of consortium and enjoyment of life, as well as attorney’s fees. It does not specify a monetary amount.
Kallinen also asked the court to allow the lawsuit to proceed as a class action, alleging that HPD officers have detained other people while waiting for ICE agents to take custody of them.
The lawsuit follows changes to Houston’s policy governing HPD’s cooperation with ICE. The City Council previously adopted an ordinance that sought to limit HPD’s coordination with federal immigration authorities and restrict how long officers could hold people with civil immigration warrants.
The city later amended the ordinance after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold state funding. HPD subsequently issued a directive allowing officers to wait a “reasonable amount of time” for ICE to take custody of people with civil immigration warrants.
City Attorney Arturo Michel told the City Council in April that officers could not detain people solely on the basis of civil immigration warrants because doing so would violate the Fourth Amendment.
The City of Houston and Mayor John Whitmire’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
