In 2019, the City of Houston put forward a standard operating procedure to limit unnecessary interactions between ICE and Houstonians seeking assistance from law enforcement. This procedure did not run afoul of SB4.   As the recent reporting of a domestic violence survivor  to ICE makes clear, that procedure is no longer being followed.  The city’s former standard operating procedure must be made into an ordinance.  

According to the city of Houston’s own records, since the second Trump administration began, the number of reports to ICE by the Houston Police Department has grown dramatically. the current political environment - from Washington, DC to Houston City Hall - has encouraged HPD to go above and beyond in collaborating with ICE by checking immigration detainers when not required by law. 

The City of Houston should amend and codify its  former internal policy (HPD General Order 500-08) as an ordinance to limit ICE cooperation as much as is allowed under increasingly severe state laws.