 There was a presentation at Houston City Council this past Wednesday, 5/13, about the World Cup. Above you see one of the slides from the presentation. (There is a QR code that blocks capturing the full graphic.) Where it says nearly $80 million will be invested in security, much of that is the money Greg Abbott threatened to withhold if Houston City Council did not spike the ICE ordinance. If you want to enjoy the World Cup, you should do that. I went to a World Baseball Classic game in Houston and bought the Peacock streaming service so I could watch the Olympics. I have no illusions about these big sporting events. But I need my distractions no different than you. It's also important for us to know that the money for ICE security came at the price of expanded City of Houston cooperation with ICE. When the Salinas/Kamin/Pollard ordinance was proposed, the policy was that if HPD pulled you over and found that you had a civil immigration warrant, that you could be held up to 30 minutes for ICE to arrive. After the ordinance was "amended" because of Abbott's threat to put World Cup visitors at risk by defunding security, the new city policy is no limit at all on how long HPD can wait for ICE. The 12 councilmembers who voted yes to expand HPD cooperation with ICE were Democrats Castillo, Castex-Tatum, Alcorn, Jackson, Martinez, Evans-Shabazz & Republicans Peck, Huffman, Ramirez, Flickenger, Carter, Davis. The no votes were Democrats Kamin, Pollard, Salinas and Thomas. We must elect a better and more responsive Houston City Council in 2027. You see in the slide all the funding, multiple agencies & operations that the security money will fund. Just imagine if our federal, state and City of Houston governments had the same commitment to providing these needed resources, coordination and protections for democracy as much they do for sports.
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AuthorI'm Neil Aquino. Archives
May 2026
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