HOUSTON — A Houston police officer contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a North Houston woman called 911 to report that a man had threatened to kill her, according to police records obtained by Houston Public Media.
The April 21 incident has drawn scrutiny from Houston City Council members after newly released Houston Police Department data showed officers contacted ICE more than 100 times from April through June.
According to the incident report, the man accused of making the threat had three outstanding warrants and was arrested. The woman who reported the incident had an immigration warrant, prompting the responding officer to notify ICE. The report does not indicate whether federal immigration agents detained her.
Council members Mario Castillo and Alejandra Salinas questioned the practice of reporting crime victims to ICE. Salinas said she plans to seek additional information from Mayor John Whitmire’s administration, arguing that local law enforcement resources should focus on public safety rather than immigration enforcement.
HPD’s quarterly report showed officers contacted ICE 103 times between April and June. Thirty-four of those contacts occurred after someone requested emergency assistance, while 46 followed traffic stops and 17 resulted from responses to vehicle crashes. Federal immigration agents took custody of 19 of the individuals reported, according to the department.
The report marked HPD’s first public disclosure of its coordination with ICE after the City Council approved an ordinance in April requiring quarterly reports. It also showed officers detained individuals with immigration warrants for an average of 39 minutes during the reporting period.
The increase in ICE contacts follows changes to the city’s immigration-related policies and renewed public debate over cooperation with federal immigration authorities after an ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston’s East End earlier this month.
