Full Press Conference: Houston limits ICE contact to jail offenses under new executive ordinance

[0:05] Good morning. This morning I have directed the chief and HPD through an executive order [0:16] that we will change our policy in regarding contact with ICE. I do this to begin a healing [0:28] process, reduce fear and anxiety across our community. I also do this knowing that elections [0:39] matter. I've been in contact with the new statewide elected officials and SB4 is not [0:47] a priority of the new statewide elected officials. I know these individuals from serving with [0:54] them in the legislature. In fact, two state senators got elected Tuesday. Our new attorney [1:00] general, a good friend, colleague, actually introduced him to the Senate. Furthermore, [1:08] Senator Eckhart is our new comptroller. Our new governor-elect, Hinojosa was a colleague [1:15] in the House and also our new lieutenant governor, Goodman. I might also let you all know that [1:27] we're probably going to have a speaker of the House from Houston, Texas, Sopronia Thompson, [1:32] and I were freshmen in 1973. We're close family friends. We've been in battles together. So [1:42] I've consulted the new state leadership, certainly the chief, members of my team, members of the [1:50] community, colleagues like Councilman Martinez. This is the right thing to do at the right [1:58] time. I was on the Senate floor when Senate 4 was approved. I voted against it. It's always [2:07] interesting to me that the critics don't recognize I understood Senate Bill 4 before any of them. [2:15] I voted no because we were concerned about the fear, the anxiety that it would create. But [2:23] I do know the original intent of Senate Bill 4 is to remove dangerous criminals from the streets of Texas. [2:30] So the new policy is going to do just that. Contact that HPD has, no one has to worry about them [2:44] doing a warrant search, which includes ICE, unless they're being charged with a new jailable offense, [2:54] including dangerous crimes, violent offenders. It will improve our public safety. It will reduce the fear and anxiety of students, our workers. And I will take the responsibility of making this change, even with the current administration still in office for two months. I've said many times, elections matter. I've been in contact with the new state leadership. I've been in contact with bipartisan members of the legislature. [3:31] Quite frankly, this should be a nonpartisan issue. I'm responsible for Houston's finances, safety and welfare. I had to, the last year, listen to the current leadership in Austin, the ones that told us that our finances were at stake. You know, it's easy for critics to say, fight them back when they don't have to pass a city budget. We depend on state resources for most of the city services. Health department for certain. Our transportation, our transportation, our [4:08] public safety, our public safety. So I'll say once again, I'm proud of our record. I'll take credit for not having turmoil on the streets of Houston, like all the other major cities. We haven't had the National Guard. We haven't had total disruption on our street. It starts at the top with the tone. Our police chief, our department, hands out water at protest. We don't show up with batons and military gear. [4:43] We don't show up with the warning. And we can't take that forward for continuing the unity that we provide Houstonians. I'm pleased to share this with my colleagues across Texas. I believe this will be the model for Texas cities. I'm proud of our record. It's been a challenge, but we've done it. So today, we're changing the policy through this executive order. [5:25] to worry about their workers, their family members, their students. This really unifies Houston, [5:36] and what it really does, which is still my highest priority, is public safety. This will get [5:44] individuals charged with new crimes, jailable crimes, including violent offenders off the [5:52] street of Houston. The policy will be when you see there's a warrant for this new charged person, [6:00] when you get him or her to the jail, you will notify ICE, and then it's the responsibility of the [6:08] Harris County Jail and Harris County Government to react accordingly. It will certainly improve our [6:16] public safety. So I'm pretty excited to be able to ask the Chief to address it with his well-trained, [6:29] compassionate. I want everyone to realize what a complex job young officers have when they're on [6:36] the street of Houston, following our ordinance a reasonable amount of time. That's so subjective. [6:43] Have a supervisor come. Those days are behind us. Now we deal with jailable offenses, and this [6:54] will definitely move us in the right direction. I believe we'll become the model. Chief Dias, I have [7:01] this executive order which I've signed and presented to you this morning. I'll be glad to yield to you if [7:10] you'd like to make some comments. Yes, sir. Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming [7:14] here and visiting with us. I'll be brief. Following the mayor's executive order, we're updating the [7:20] directive. Every officer at the Houston Police Department today, as we speak, our circular went [7:27] out. As the mayor stated, the message is clear. ICE will only be contacted if someone commits a jailable [7:34] offense. This means our officers will only contact ICE if someone they arrest, forgive me, also has an [7:42] administrative ICE warrant. For example, if our police officers pull someone over for a minor [7:48] traffic infraction and they write a citation, that person receives a citation and goes about their day. [7:54] HPD will no longer contact ICE if they have an administrative warrant and they are not arrested. [8:00] I want to thank the good mayor for his compassionate leadership. Our officers will continue to work hard [8:07] to keep all Houstonians safe, to improve public safety, which is our top priority. Briefly in Spanish. [8:13] Siguiendo la orden ejecutiva del alcalde, hoy estamos actualizando la directiva dirigida a todos los agentes del HPD. [8:23] Como señaló el alcalde, el mensaje es claro. Solo contactaría ICE si alguien comete un delito encarcelable. [8:35] Esto significa que nuestros oficiales solo se podrán en contacto con ICE sin la persona que arrestan también cuenta [8:44] con una orden administrativa de ICE. Por ejemplo, si uno de los agentes del Departamento de Policía detiene a alguien [8:52] por una infracción menor de tráfico y le extiende una multa, esa persona recibirá la multa y continúa con su día. [9:03] HPD ya no se podrá, se pondrá en contacto con ICE si la persona tiene una orden administrativa [9:13] por no, por no ser arrestada. Agradezco al alcalde su liderazgo decisivo. Nuestros agentes seguirán [9:21] trabajando arduamente para mantener a todos los habitantes de Houston a salvo. Muchas gracias. [9:27] Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. [9:28] Before I ask Al to translate, I want to emphasize a couple of things. I said when I was first sworn in, [9:36] and this became an issue, it was unfortunate. And it could only be changed in Washington. [9:43] I would urge the Congressional leadership to rank and file our local delegation to please address [9:52] immigration. I want to thank Congresswoman Garcia, our Senator Kel Alvarado, and representatives [10:03] across our community, certainly community leadership, for working with us to deal in a law-abiding, [10:15] following state law, city ordinances, and reaching this point now to where I can share the real intent [10:23] of Senate Bill 4 of Senate Bill 4 was to go after jailable offenses, those that pose a danger, [10:33] not those that are going about their family business, work, and education. But I do call on Congress to [10:43] change immigration laws. I was very clear several months ago, ICE needs better training. They need body [10:51] cameras. They need to be trained in de-escalation. But this can only be done in Washington. I can only [11:00] control what I can control. And I'm glad to answer any questions. [11:05] Mr. Mayor, is this change actually a recognition that HPV was cooperating with ICE before this change? [11:12] We've followed the law. You can use whatever term you'd like to. We had a state law that we were [11:20] instructed to follow by the leadership in Austin that controls our purse strings. And then we have [11:27] city ordinances. So, you know, that's just semantics. We have critics that try to misrepresent that, [11:35] but we were following the law. We're taking an interpretation of the law today, working with the [11:41] newly elected members of the state leadership, and implementing this policy, which I believe, [11:49] having been on the Senate floor, was a discussion to deal with those that are violating new laws. [11:57] And the good chief, I love it, Barty's term, good mayor, good chief. Traffic incident will not, [12:07] will not even, you write them a citation or you warn them and they go about their way. No contact with ICE [12:14] city limits over non-violent, non-jailable offenses. It'll reduce the fear and the anxiety. [12:23] And I want to emphasize that. It's communities across Houston, that their workers will be there, [12:31] that their nannies will be there, that their teachers will be there. You know, we have a huge [12:37] responsibility to Houstonians to treat everyone equally, fairly. If you don't violate one of our laws, [12:46] laws that are jailable, you have nothing to worry about HPD contacting ICE. Those days [12:54] are behind us. I've said it repeatedly also at city council, elections matter, new leadership, [13:02] new policies, and that's what we're responding to. [13:06] Other than contacting ICE, how much of background information does HPD shield ICE, correct? [13:14] How much background information does HPD shield ICE? [13:19] I can take that question. [13:21] Yeah, please. [13:22] What was your name, sir? [13:23] Other than my name, I'm Lincoln. [13:27] Okay, so the question was, other than this new ordinance, the question was how much contact, [13:34] how much background information is provided by the Houston Police Department to the Immigration [13:39] and Customs Enforcement? [13:41] Correct. [13:42] Absolutely none. Pretty easy for me. No background. There's no contact, there's no radio contact [13:48] in any capacity. We don't provide them any information about anything that we do. I've [13:53] actually pulled people out of task forces to come back to Houston because how sensitive [13:57] an issue this is. The mayor and I have discussed it. I want to thank the mayor personally, here [14:01] publicly, for understanding that this was very personal to me as a son of immigrants. And [14:09] I'm here because of hardworking people. And the mayor challenged us from the day we started this. This [14:18] only happened when the federal government put the 750,000 people into NCIC. Before, we didn't have any [14:27] contact with them. So we will continue to do that and we'll still follow the law. To be simple like the mayor said, [14:34] we will always do our jobs. And from the very beginning, before anybody asked us to, before an ordinance, we [14:43] were tracking. I review every single body camera video. It's been about six or seven days. We haven't [14:49] had any contact, right? So we're focused on providing exceptional police services to this community. Everybody [14:58] in the community. It's a great question. Chief, how do you, how does this impact the city's 287G [15:04] agreement with ICE? I think that's easy. That's, that's again, false information. We don't have a 287G [15:10] program. Never have. Never have. Yeah, that's, that's, that's a county. That's a county. You [15:15] have to run a jail to have a 287G. Right. Can you address a little bit of the issue? [15:20] Why is it so a small boy? Sí, claro, pues para mí es, primeramente es un honor estar [15:25] aquí en frente del del del alcalde, en un momento que es personal para mí, la [15:32] cuestión del del del reportero fue qué tanto, qué información le damos [15:41] a la Agencia Federal que es responsable para todo, para toda cuestión de [15:48] migración y para mí es simple, el cero nunca, cómo nos comunicamos con [15:54] No comunicamos con ellos, no les damos información, no hacemos parte del 287G, que el señor Cada. [16:01] Nosotros estamos haciendo todo lo posible para mantener nosotros las leyes de la ciudad y las redes estatales. [16:08] No tenemos ningún contacto con los agentes federales con cuestión de la migratoria de la gente de la comunidad, [16:20] menos de los arrestos que hicimos por la información que tenían dentro de la computadora nacional. [16:27] You say we're following the law. What law are we talking about? [16:31] We were following city ordinances and state law, certainly as the governor, current governor, interpreted Senate Bill 4. [16:41] We were given direction that our funding would be withdrawn if we didn't follow their direction of contacting ICE. [16:50] Sometimes as mayor I have to put my personal views aside for what's best for our community, our health, welfare, public safety. [16:58] But elections matter. I want to address my relationships. [17:04] It's been so misleading by a couple of people that now all of a sudden Whitmire will not have Austin relationships. [17:11] That's about as silly a statement as anyone can make. [17:15] I served in the Senate with Comptroller Eckhart and the most important Attorney General. [17:22] I mentored them in the Senate. I've been in contact with them. They reached out to me. [17:29] How do you navigate now in the Senate when they're still controlled by the Republicans? [17:34] I was the only Democratic Senator because I didn't make issues partisan. [17:40] We just want to get the job done. And so I'm mentoring now in their new positions. [17:46] Certainly the governor elect and the lieutenant governor elect were in the House. [17:53] I was in the Senate when they arrived. [17:55] Who do you think they brought their legislation to in the Senate? [18:01] Obviously the record speaks for itself. [18:03] So we're going to have even a better relationship. [18:06] We had a good one in the past because I would remind the leadership in Austin, [18:13] we all represent the same people. [18:15] The new leadership, we all represent the same people. [18:20] But obviously I had personal relationships with the new leadership. [18:24] It goes beyond just serving in the legislature. [18:28] I can't emphasize enough that if Sofronia Thompson becomes the Speaker of the House, [18:34] we started together. [18:37] We were freshmen together. [18:38] We went through battles together. [18:41] And she would be a perfect Speaker of the House during this period of transition. [18:47] We all want the same thing. [18:48] What's best for Texas? [18:51] Complicated sometimes, but you can't let politics get in the way of problem solving. [18:56] Yes, ma'am. [18:57] My question is for the Chief. [18:59] I'm sure the officers are enforcing this rule. [19:02] And how would you track how this is being enforced? [19:06] Will the union records make public now following this executive order? [19:09] Well, the ordinance isn't going to go away, [19:10] so we'll continue to track the city ordinance like we have been. [19:13] The last quarter we had near 300,000 contacts. [19:18] This office is enormous. [19:20] We have 5,500 employees that work every day around the clock that are doing great things. [19:28] So it's already been released. [19:30] It will be read at every roll call, every shift for five days, [19:35] and then we'll reinforce it probably in a month. [19:37] But let the record show that we've tracked this since the very beginning. [19:42] There's a few outliers on times and things like that, but every video is being looked at [19:47] because my responsibility is that we treat everybody with dignity and respect to this community. [19:53] I don't care where you're from or your culture or who you worship to. [20:00] This office, these uniforms are going to respect you and give you the dignity. [20:06] And I want to just thank the staff. [20:08] I'm so grateful for the men and women that I work for every day because watching those videos, [20:13] you see the humanity in these uniforms, you see them waiting around to release a vehicle [20:19] so people could go to work tomorrow. [20:22] You see them waiting a little bit longer so a kid can come hug a dad. [20:26] You know, it's just, it's such a powerful message for me as an administrator [20:30] of the largest agency in the state that our kids are fundamentally doing amazing things [20:36] when they treat everybody they come in contact with. [20:39] And it's leadership, right? [20:41] The mayor affords us the best training, the biggest staff, and it's important to us to [20:48] follow through with the community. [20:50] Mayor, I can tell that this is an emotional topic for you both. [20:54] This is something that weighs heavy on both your hearts. [20:56] If Washington fires back about this executive order, how do you plan to answer that? [21:01] I accept that responsibility. [21:02] I'm doing what's in Houston's best interest. [21:07] In fact, this is a real statement about local control. [21:10] When I got to, when I went to legislature 50 plus years ago, local control was a doctrine. [21:18] We've gotten away from that. [21:21] And the current leadership, who has two more months on their schedule, started intervening [21:26] in city operations in many facets. [21:29] And they control the person. [21:33] Having a working relationship with them, being nonpartisan benefited Houston. [21:42] So yes, I understand there's risk. [21:44] I mentioned to you a while ago, I can't change or control ICE. [21:49] I'm a Houstonian. [21:54] I have strong feelings. [21:56] I have undocumented friends. [21:58] But it's not just the undocumented. [22:02] It's all of us. [22:04] If anybody in here says they haven't been impacted by the tragedies across our nation and locally, [22:11] you don't have a pulse. [22:13] And I'm addressing that today. [22:16] You know, I wouldn't be surprised if I get some calls from the current administration or [22:24] obviously the administration in Washington. [22:26] I am elected. [22:28] And the reason I'm here is I care about Houston. [22:32] I've got 50 plus years of experience. [22:36] Relationships matter. [22:38] And I'm willing to be held accountable. [22:41] I will take that risk. [22:42] And I know I'm doing right. [22:46] Mayor, that was such a great quote. [22:48] Can you translate that for our Spanish? [22:49] Yeah, I'm sorry. [22:50] I get it. [22:51] It's okay. [22:52] Along with the questions. [22:53] Hello to all of you and thanks for coming to this conference. [22:57] What the alcalde Whitmire wants to say is that this is a question personal for him, [23:03] and also for the police chief, for all the years in which he has lived in Houston and [23:09] all the people that he has known during a public life that has lasted more than 50 years. [23:16] Además, esta orden ejecutiva también lo que va a hacer es ayudar a la ciudad de Houston [23:20] a retomar el control local, como debería ser, de cómo se maneja el departamento de policía. [23:26] Por lo tanto, la prioridad del alcalde, como siempre resalta él, es la seguridad pública. [23:31] Con esta orden ejecutiva lo que se va a hacer es un mejor manejo de los recursos [23:37] del departamento de policía, que son limitados. [23:40] Y solamente se van a hacer las interacciones con ICE cuando realmente estén justificadas [23:45] que hay un encarcelamiento de por medio. [23:48] Y finalmente lo que también quiero decir es que el alcalde Whitmire lo que considera [23:52] es que esto va a iniciar un proceso de cura en la ciudad de Houston. [23:56] Hemos tenido, lamentablemente, este año bastantes incidentes trágicos, [24:01] uno de ellos la muerte de Lorenzo Salgado. [24:03] Esto puede empezar o va a comenzar un proceso de cura [24:06] y también va a ayudar a rebajar la ansiedad de la comunidad de Houston. [24:10] Mayor Whitmire... [24:13] No, you'll be a real patient, I'll get to you. [24:15] I'm sorry, Sam. [24:16] I was just talking about how this is going to be initiating a sense of healing. [24:22] As you and I both know, there's been a lot of folks in the Houston community, [24:27] like Houstonians, that may have maybe lost their trust in both PD and the city [24:32] because of whatever we want to call it, interaction, relationship, [24:35] or just a phone call over to ICE. [24:37] How are you going to ensure, besides like my colleague was saying on tracking things, [24:42] but how are you going to ensure that you're gaining that trust back from yourselves? [24:45] Well, we have a lot of community engagement. [24:47] not only HPD, but myself. [24:50] I was in Mason Park with Council Member Martinez two Saturdays ago, [24:54] up and down Little League football fields, [24:58] talking to hundreds of families. [25:00] So I have my, and not only that, I'm a Houstonian, and I live in the real world. [25:08] So the policy change, this press conference, my availability, [25:14] your work to let people know, unless you commit a new crime, [25:20] a jailable offense, you have nothing to worry about. [25:23] There's going to be some critics and some benefit from misinformation. [25:29] I think this is one of my enjoyment today is to clear the record. [25:37] So I think anyone that says there's that large amount of distrust, [25:43] I think they're wrong, and I think the data will show that. [25:47] HPD is over 50% Hispanic. [25:51] Did you hear what I just said? [25:53] Over 50% of our 5,500 officers, we have language skills. [26:00] And it's not just the Hispanic community. [26:03] It's the Vietnamese community. [26:04] It's the Nigerian community. [26:06] We are a diverse city, and we patrol fairly, [26:12] well-trained language skills. [26:15] The department looks like Houston. [26:17] My team looks like Houston. [26:20] Start looking at the directors across City Hall. [26:24] We look like Houston, and we're here to serve all of Houston. [26:29] Obviously, as the chief said, there's accountability at the department [26:33] on any policy. [26:35] So it's a good day for Houston. [26:38] We're moving in the right direction. [26:41] We've been discovered by the world. [26:43] People are still talking about the safety during FIFA, [26:47] record attendance, fan fest, free, overflow. [26:52] It's Dynamo Stadium. [26:53] The Shell Stadium would have 20,000. [26:55] We didn't have an incident. [26:57] And that comes from preparation and leadership, [27:03] and recruiting the right people, by the way. [27:05] You mentioned that you want this to be a model. [27:08] Have you spoken to the leadership in San Antonio, Austin, [27:13] and or Dallas, or do we believe this is the first model [27:16] of its kind since the election? [27:17] I'll be in contact with them, and frequently they call. [27:22] Let me emphasize again. [27:24] During the most troubling times, [27:27] all major cities in America were in turmoil. [27:31] You haven't seen that in Houston. [27:34] And it's because of the tone that I, the chief, the department set. [27:39] We don't show up at protests with batons and masks and shields. [27:46] We take water. [27:47] And let me just tell you, if you don't think there's not elements in our community [27:52] that would like to disrupt our community, [27:55] you know, you know what I'm talking about. [27:57] There's agendas. [27:58] There's misinformation. [28:01] And this is so complex. [28:02] I wish time and even privacy would allow me to describe cases [28:07] where HPD officers got there and a mother has several children. [28:12] She's pregnant. [28:13] There's a warrant. [28:15] She may actually have violated laws. [28:24] But the good training, a 23-year-old officer that's been on the streets [28:30] for a couple of years, we're following our orders. [28:33] We give him a supervisor. [28:36] They look at the reasonableness of their action. [28:41] Reasonable amount of time, very subjective. [28:43] But they work with that family to see that relatives are contacted. [28:48] And then they finally say to ICE, don't come here. [28:53] I can tell you there's real-life stories of HPD officers saying, [28:57] protocol and policy might say we've got to contact you. [29:05] But please realize the numbers are the mother's got seven kids. [29:11] She's pregnant. [29:12] So anyway, I'm just simply saying it's a difficult subject, very complex. [29:19] Other mayors routinely call me. [29:21] How do we pass a budget without taxes? [29:23] You know, I don't want to bring up the budget this morning. [29:27] But Austin tried to raise their property taxes 20%, went down 63%. [29:35] I know better. [29:36] I've been in office. [29:37] There's a time for everything. [29:40] And the time today to change our policy is today. [29:44] And we're doing it. [29:46] And Houston will be a better city for it. [29:48] And I think it will become the model for other Texas cities. [29:52] And I would expect the nation. [29:55] I do. [29:56] Someone asked me, am I worried about a call from Washington? [30:00] Look at my record. [30:05] I've dealt with some pretty interesting characters in Austin. [30:10] But they made me who I am today. [30:12] And I'm doing the right thing. [30:14] I don't worry about politics or the next election. [30:16] This is good for Houston. [30:18] And I hope you all will do your job to communicate to Houstonians that we've got a responsible city [30:26] government and police department that's doing the right thing on an issue that has really made us all emotional over the last year. [30:36] I've got grandkids. [30:37] You think they don't see on TV what's happening? [30:40] The Salgado family. [30:41] I wish I could undo a lot of things. [30:43] But I could only deal with what I can deal with, what I can control. [30:48] And it's frustrating when I see incidents like ice hitting the gentleman. [30:54] It wasn't even in Houston. [30:56] The call for Houston to get involved in that, it was in the unincorporated area. [31:02] But that's leadership. [31:05] I have to lead this council, this community in the right direction. [31:09] And that's what we're doing today. [31:11] You've been pretty patient that I've got to go to work. [31:13] You're saying that the old policy would like that. [31:23] Wait, sir. [31:24] I didn't say it was a good policy. [31:25] I said we had to depend on state resources. [31:30] They felt like it was a good policy. [31:33] I voted against it. [31:34] So think what you just said, I thought it was a good policy. [31:38] I voted against that policy for the very reason how it's played out. [31:45] Fear, anxiety. [31:46] But sometimes, as a mayor, I have to do not my personal views, but what I know to be in [31:56] Houston's best interest. [31:57] We cannot run the city government without state and federal grants, bottom line. [32:04] And believe me, I've worked with the current administration. [32:08] They mean what they say in terms of withdrawing monies. [32:12] So I'm not going to wake up and not have a health department or a public works department [32:17] or a public safety department. [32:19] I have to do what I believe is best. [32:23] Up until today, what was best is work with the leadership that is being replaced. [32:29] What's best is for me to talk to the newly elected leadership, who, by the way, voted with me [32:36] against state bill four. [32:37] We know each other. [32:38] We know the potential and the real consequences. [32:41] So anyway, elections matter. [32:43] Let me go to work. [32:44] Thank y'all.