Pretty much as I have stated previously, not much change, and John Whitmire still wants HPD to get rid of immigrants who are not lawfully here. He meant what he said in 2024.
“They’re largely undocumented immigrants. They just want basic services. They don’t want to be part of the Galleria,” Whitmire said to the publication. “You think they’re going to be welcome in the Galleria?”
You know, and I know, that John Whitmire did not take time to speak to residents of the Gulfton area. He is still the same racist he was when he first got elected as a State Representative.
Former Mayor Turner, who knew Whitmire very well, had the following to say:
Speaking at a City Council meeting, Turner accused Whitmire of blowing a “dog whistle” when he claimed at a debate on Monday that the mayor had failed to appoint Asian and Hispanic leaders.
Turner said Whitmire had suggested there was only “one look” at City Hall because some top leaders, such as Police Chief Troy Finner, are Black.
“To imply that there is no diversity and there is only one look, that’s a dog whistle,” Turner said. “I’ve lived 69 years. I know when you’re sending a dog whistle. This city deserves better. It deserves better. And I’m not going to let that slide.”
Regarding the new HPD policy, below is what an expert had to say.
The changes to departmental policy aren’t major and are mostly designed to combat the press ICE and administrative warrants have been generating, said Thomas Hogan, a former district attorney and assistant professor of law at South Texas College of Law.
Travis Fife, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the mayor seemed to acknowledge that Wednesday’s changes were in reality doubling down on enforcement practices that have left some Houstonians terrified.
Our newly elected County Attorney, Abbie Kamen, had the following to say:
Abbie Kamin. “It was only due to extremely important investigative journalism that the transports came to light.”
Kamin also questioned whether administrative warrants should spur any action at all by local officers because they aren’t judicial warrants signed by a judge.
“ICE administrative warrants can be created and issued by ICE themselves,” said Kamin, a civil rights lawyer who is also running for Harris County Attorney. “These are not criminal warrants, and the name ‘warrant’ is a misnomer. These are civil based requests by federal agencies that have a much lower standard.”
Kamin said ICE operations have still had a “chilling effect on Houston” and the collaboration between HPD and federal immigration officials.
“HPD does not have the time or the resources to do the dirty work of Trump, costing Houston taxpayer dollars with no nexus to public safety,” she said. “HPD’s job is public safety and addressing crime, not forcing people into the shadows.”
In my opinion, Whitmire wants the Trump billionaires who supported his candidacy to like him.
“As mayor, I have to worry about the general health and welfare of this city (with) public safety being my first and highest priority,” he said.
Cities take different approaches
While emphasizing that local police are required to work with ICE, other public safety agencies in Texas have reached different conclusions. Dallas police have been expressly prohibited from calling ICE on noncriminal administrative warrants, and Austin just last week instituted new requirements making it discretionary for officers to call immigration agents on administrative warrants.
Whitmire said some news reports about ICE enforcement only serve to frighten the immigrant community, and that people who disagree with his policies
“(When) dealing with emotional issues, there are people who would like the city to be disrupted. There are people who would like chaos on my watch,” he said without naming a person or group. Kamin said the mayor’s rhetoric only causes more division.
Abbie Kamin -“I think pitting people against one another and saying that it’s just people out to get me is paranoid and does a disservice to the people of the most diverse city in the country.”
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