If Houston Leaders Won't Speak Up Against ICE Now, What Is Likelihood They'll Speak When Trans People Start Getting Rounded-Up?

​I recently had a conversation with an attorney about ICE in Houston/Harris County. 

(Above is a screenshot from a Tik Tok of an ICE raid in the Houston-area. There are a lot of these on Tik Tok.) 

Here is some of what I was told: 

• People are being profiled based on driving work vans and trucks. It is racial and it is also class-based

 

• People driving what might be conventionally seen as nicer cars and trucks are not being pulled over. Again, it is race-based and class-based. 

 

• Some law enforcement agencies and officers are arresting people they might not normally arrest for minor things because even if not guilty, once in the system they are subject to immigration enforcement. 

 

• Because there are not enough resources, people scooped by ICE don’t get processed for 2 or 3 days. During this time, their families don’t know where they are. 

 

• Who knows what happens to them in the end under the current administration. 

The Houston Chronicle published an editorial today titled: Trump’s Immigration Raids Sow Fear In Houston. Why Are Our City Leaders Silent?

From the Chronicle: 

"Houston has, it’s true, largely been spared the immigration policing spectacle that keeps other cities on edge: the viral clips from Los Angeles, Boston, New York…It’s tempting to call our lack of spectacle a mercy. It may even be calculation. By maintaining a perception and minimum of cooperation between the feds and local law enforcement, our local leaders keep Washington satisfied. Keep Guard troops off our streets. Keep the cameras pointed elsewhere. …But after the U.S Supreme Court's preliminary ruling last week effectively legalizing immigration stops based on little else but where a person works, the language they speak or the shade of their skin — the quiet isn’t comfort. It’s cover. … In Houston the roundups are here already — just smaller, scattered and easier to miss in our sprawling city. You hear about them outside apartment complexes and the Lowe’s in Tomball. In Conroe, Spring and Pasadena. In Gulfton and Sharpstown. Outside strip malls with washaterias and barber shops and the Fiesta grocery store. Along Little York and Aldine Westfield, near tortillerías and the Home Depot."

Republican Texas Congress member Ronny Jackson said the following about trans people this past Tuesday: 

"We have to do something about this,” Jackson said after railing against doctors who aid with “gender transition. “We have to treat these people. We have to get them off the streets and we have to get them off the internet. We can’t let them communicate with each other. I’m all about free speech, but this is a virus, this is a cancer that’s spreading across this country that’s going to do great damage to normal, hard working, law abiding people.”
​
There were reports last week that the Trump Administration is considering attempting to take away Second Amendment gun ownership rights away from trans people. 

If Houston elected-leaders won't speak up about ICE now, what is the likelihood they will speak up when trans people start getting rounded-up? 

We must demand more of them & we must never forget that each of us are going to have to be the real leaders in the challenging days ahead. 

Here is information on following and interacting with Houston City Council: 

Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM with the exception of the last Friday of each month when it is at 5:30 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. 

Here 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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