Whitmire continues to lie about HPD not working with ICE, a typical politician. Who has made it clear that his dislike for immigrants could border on racism?
Houston police called federal immigration agents on a woman who dialed 911 to report domestic abuse by her ex-husband in April, newly released records show.
The woman, an immigrant from El Salvador who has lived in Houston for seven years, had a removal order stemming from the denial of her asylum claim.
“Anecdotally, we know there’s a huge fear in the immigrant community about reporting any type of incident to law enforcement because of the fear of being deported,” said Amy Smith, deputy director at the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council.
An HPD spokesperson defended the officer’s actions, saying he was simply following protocol.
“An officer responding to an assault call conducted a routine criminal history check on the reportee and discovered she had an active ICE warrant,” the department spokesperson said. “As with any law enforcement warrant, the officer is required to notify the appropriate agency. The officer continued to assist the reportee professionally, providing her with victim support resources and maintaining a high level of service.”
Despite the growing number of reports detailing local police’s communications with ICE, Mayor John Whitmire and agency leaders have stringently denied cooperating with immigration authorities.
“People who are victims of domestic violence are encouraged to call police for help regardless of their immigration status,” Whitmire said of the recent report. “The city enforces state and local laws.”
If one sees a crime being committed and one is undocumented, HPD will call ICE as per protocol. If that is not working with ICE, what is?