MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Texas, where a battle is underway over how local police departments should work with federal immigration enforcement. Governor Greg Abbott's threats to take away funding from some of the state's largest cities led to policy changes in those cities this week. Dominic Anthony Walsh with Houston Public Media reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Two, four, six eight. Abolish ICE. We can't wait.
DOMINIC ANTHONY WALSH, BYLINE: Outside the Houston City Hall this week, a small group of protesters stood in the rain calling for city officials to fight back against Governor Abbott. Inside the city council chambers, officials have been grappling with his ultimatum. Fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement or lose public safety funding from the state.
ALEJANDRA SALINAS: The governor is acting like a bully.
WALSH: Houston City Council member Alejandra Salinas spearheaded a measure earlier this month prohibiting officers from detaining people or prolonging traffic stops if they have civil immigration warrants. It came after the police department said it turned over about 85 people to federal immigration authorities last year, mostly after traffic stops. Last week, Abbott threatened to revoke about $114 million in public safety grants to Houston unless city officials reversed the new policy.
SALINAS: And we need to prove to the governor that we're going to stand up to his bullying.
WALSH: The city faces chronic budget deficits, and officials are relying on a $65 million public safety grant for the FIFA World Cup matches kicking off in June. Houston Mayor John Whitmire thinks it's too risky to take legal action against officials in the state's capital city.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN WHITMIRE: Austin is listening. Austin is watching.
WALSH: He pushed for a revised policy that gives police officers more discretion over how to handle civil immigration warrants.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WHITMIRE: We have no alternative for Houston to survive, prepare for FIFA, patrol these neighborhoods across this great city.
WALSH: The Houston City Council approved the revision on Wednesday. Dallas revised its policy yesterday to clarify officers will collaborate as reasonable or necessary. Still, Police Chief Daniel Comeaux told WFAA police officers are focused on local and state crimes, not enforcing federal immigration law.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DANIEL COMEAUX: Will we cooperate and assist our federal partners? Absolutely, we will. But we are not immigration officers.
WALSH: Dallas faces the loss of more than $30 million on top of a public safety grant tied to the FIFA World Cup in nearby Arlington, while Austin has about 2.5 million on the line. In Austin, police supervisors have discretion over whether or not to even contact federal agents about civil immigration warrants. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson says he believes the city is already in compliance, signaling no plans to revise the policy there. In a statement to NPR, U.S. immigration and customs enforcement says policies like Austin's, quote, "not only undermine the rule of law in this country but also endanger public safety." After the Houston Police Department directed officers to follow the city's new policy yesterday, Abbott's office called for all cities in Texas to also cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
BRANDON ROTTINGHAUS: The governor has a political incentive to keep this issue alive.
WALSH: Brandon Rottinghaus is a political science professor at the University of Houston. He says this fits into the history of political sparring between the state government and urban areas in Texas.
ROTTINGHAUS: No governor in the modern era has ever had a problem running against blue urban cities.
WALSH: State law requires local collaboration with ICE. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate, also jumped into the fray last week with a now moot lawsuit against Houston's policy.
For NPR News, I'm Dominic Anthony Walsh in Houston.
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