Contact Houston City Council About HPD Working With ICE-My Remarks To Council

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I spoke at Houston City Council public comment time Tuesday, 7/22, at 2 PM. (There is information below about interacting with Council.) 

(Above is me at Council asking what moral obligations we assume as Houstonians for cooperating with ICE. The bored gentlemen in the suits behind me, are businessmen from Africa who seemed to have a pitch about getting some deal connected the World Cup soccer in Houston in 2026.) 

Here is what I said: 

​Thank you to the people of Houston for providing this forum. 

There was debate here last week over the so-called Civility Ordinance. Much conversation had to do with what moral obligation, hopefully helpful services and also legal punishments, that would be extended to people no longer allowed to sleep Downtown and East Downtown. 

Councilmember Kamin said some men did not want to be sent to an all-male shelter because it might be dangerous. Councilmember Ramirez asked questions about the citations and municipal court process the unhoused might face. Mayor Pro Tem Castex-Tatum said District K residents were open to the ordinance, but had concerns about citations being issued to the unhoused.

There were questions about what happens when the City of Houston compels someone, in some cases by police and legal coercion, into systems they might not want to be part of. 

Mayor Whitmire summed up what he says is the spirit and outcome of the ordinance—“No one is going to be taken off the streets unless there is a bed and a plan to get them connected with resources like mental health services.

What about people HPD turns over to ICE? Everyone in this room knows the people taken by ICE are our neighbors and a vital part of Houston’s workforce. Report after report shows the great majority are not criminals. 

What obligations do we assume as Houstonians, when we know people HPD hands over to ICE may end up in the alligator-terror facility in Florida, the torture prison in El Salvador or in South Sudan? 

From the Guardian news site:

“Migrants at a Miami immigration jail were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates “like dogs”…female detainees were made to use toilets in full view of men being held there, and were denied access to gender-appropriate care, showers, or adequate food.”

​If you’re going insist on working with ICE—which you should not be doing—then the city, each of you and all of us, are responsible for the outcomes. You talked at great length last week about responsibility for outcomes. 

You now have the information from repeated press reports and first person accounts: that due process is being ignored, many facilities are dirty and nasty & sometimes U.S. citizens are taken.

The current City of Houston policy is “We just take them to the box car, It’s not our responsibility where the box car takes them. 

In his Civility Ordinance presentation last week, Chief Satterwhite said that “what you allow, you encourage.” You accepted his premise by a 14-2 vote. 

You’re allowing HPD to turn people over to ICE. You’re encouraging what ICE does afterward by demanding no accountability. 

I’m asking that through a Proposition A ordinance, you allocate resources to track what happens to people HPD turns over to ICE. Our city should create a record in case decency ever returns, and there is a chance at accountability. We should create a moral record so a future Mayor and Council can act morally. 

I urge each of you to understand the gravity of the moment. Please meet the challenge with something other than business as usual. The parallels to 1850’s America and to the 1930’s are clear. Act now while some chance still exists to say you were on the right side and while some hope exists of changing our current course. 

​Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM. Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.  The earlier before the session you sign up, the higher up on the speaker's list you'll be. The agenda session to conduct Council business is each Wednesday at 9 AM. The agenda is posted in advance. Council can be watched live on HTV Houston Television and the most recent session is available at any time on the HTV feed on Facebook. Here is the link to past sessions of Council. Here are maps of Council districts so you can see who represents you. 

I believe Houstonians should contact Mayor Whitmire and Council and talk to them about how HPD is cooperating with ICE.

Things you could say or ask:

1. Stop working with ICE. 
2. If you are going to work with ICE, follow up on where the people the city helps send away end up. Do they get due process? Are some U.S. citizens? Pass a Proposition A ordinance so there are resources to follow up. 
3. Why aren't you speaking up or engaging in any oversight of HPD working with ICE? 

Each of us are the main act in the challenging days ahead. Step up and be heard. Encourage others to do the same. 

Below is contact information for Mayor Whitmire & Council. 

Mayor Whitmire—713-837-0311 [email protected] 

Democrats: 
At-Large-Letitia Plummer 832-393-3012  [email protected]
At-Large-Sallie Alcorn 832-393-3017  [email protected]
District B-Tarsha Jackson 832-393-3009  [email protected]
District C-Abbie Kamin 832-393-3004  [email protected]
District D-Carolyn Evans-Shabazz 832-393-3001 [email protected]
District F-Tiffany Thomas 832-393-3002  [email protected]
District H-Mario Castillo 832-393-3002  [email protected]
District I-Joaquin Martinez 832-393-3011 [email protected]
District J-Edward Pollard 832-393-3015  [email protected]
District K-Martha Castex-Tatum 832-393-3016  [email protected]

Republicans: 
At-Large-Julian Ramirez 832-393-3014 [email protected]
At-Large-Willie Davis 832-393-3013 [email protected] 
At-Large-Twila Carter 832-393-3005 [email protected]
District A-Amy Peck 832-393-3010 [email protected]
District E-Fred Flickinger 832-393-3008 [email protected] 
District G-Mary Nan Huffman 832-393-3007 [email protected] ​

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

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