 There was discussion at Houston City Council today, 11/12, regarding HPD cooperation with ICE. During the discussion, Democratic District I Councilmember Joaquin Martinez and Mayor Whitmire asked Houston Police Officer's Union President Douglas Griffith to talk about HPD and ICE. Mr. Griffith's comments begin at the 2 hour and 4 minute point of the meeting as recorded on HTV. It's frustrating that Mr. Griffith was asked to talk about this subject. Mr. Griffith's union has endorsed many elected officials who support ICE. Mr. Griffith is a problem rather than a solution. Below you see the ad the police union recently ran telling New York City police officers to come to Houston because of the election of Zohran Mamdani. It would have been best to have HPD itself as part of the conversation. HPD is accountable to the public. The police union is not. During his exchange with Mayor Whitmire and members of Council, Mr. Griffith had input on how Houstonians should speak when talking about ICE. You see him above in his comments today. (The caption mangled Mr. Griffith's comments to say the word "corks." There was no discussion of corks or wine at council today.) In his testimony/comments at council today Mr. Griffith said multiple times that rhetoric that involved the word "fight" could be interpreted as encouraging violence directed at ICE officers. People saying we should "fight' ICE or that we are in a "fight' to stop human rights and due process violations by ICE are not encouraging violence. They are using a common word to describe First Amendment protected peaceful political activity. It is the same First Amendment that protects the idiotic advertisement HPOU directed at New York City. Mr. Griffith also had a lot of input for councilmembers how they should contact him before "crazy e-mails" are sent out. I don't wager elected officials need to run public remarks by a police officer. Th only councilmember to push back at Mr. Griffith's remarks was Abbie Kamin. Councilmember Kamin has repeatedly been discussing civil liberties and the conduct of ICE. We must protect our rights. Our basic Constitutional rights are not a luxury or some kind of privilege. Protecting the Constitution is in the Oath taken by elected officials and police officers. Councilmember Martinez is a good faith actor trying to navigate difficult circumstances. I ask him to broaden his approach to this issue to fully include civil liberties concerns that are at the core of what it means to be an American. 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 on Egberto's YouTube channel. 
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AuthorI'm Neil Aquino. Archives
December 2025
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