Possible Progress At Houston City Council In Addressing ICE/HPD-Apply Your Own Pressure As A Houstonian

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At Houston City Council Public Comment Session on Wednesday, 1/21, Houstonian Erandi Trevino spoke before Council about ICE and HPD cooperating with ICE. You see Ms. Trevino above. 

If Ms. Trevino had not spoken, there would likely have been no discussion of ICE at Council. 

Ms. Trevino's comments sparked a nearly 30 minute conversation. You can watch it yourself. It starts at the 2 hour and 2 minute point of the HTV broadcast of the meeting and ends at 2 hours 31 minutes. 

It helps to see and hear councilmembers. Being able to speak confidently about what is going on will  strengthen your advocacy. There are not many people watching these meetings. You can make a difference just like Ms. Trevino. 

(Each of us are the main act. Elected officials are secondary. The lead in Minneapolis-St. Paul has been taken by rank & file people who have organized themselves. I've written at length about actions across the Houston-region lead by people no different than yourself. The next protest or action is when you organize it. )

From the discussion Wednesday, it seems possible Houston City Council is moving toward limiting non-safety traffic stops by HPD. If people are not pulled over for things like tinted windows and broken taillights, then HPD is not in a place to become aware of immigration status and contact ICE. Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz said that would be a good idea and some councilmembers appeared sympathetic. This is the 2nd time Dr. Evans-Shabazz has offered this idea. 

Other councilmembers who spoke productively (To my best most hopeful guess.) were Edward Pollard, Abbie Kamin, Alejandra Salinas and Republican Julian Ramirez. Tarsha Jackson appeared to support the non-safety traffic stop idea last month at Council. She is currently on medical leave.

Council Democrats who retain the opportunity to add to the public discussion on HPD/ICE are Sallie Alcorn, Joaquin Martinez, Tiffany Thomas, Mario Castillo & Martha Castex-Tatum. 

Mayor Whitmire also spoke. He said non-safety traffic stops sometimes lead to finding people wanted for serious crimes or lead to solving serious crimes. Mayor Whitmire then conflated non-safety stops with stops for red light running. Nobody was saying don't give tickets to red light runners. Surely there is enough speeding, aggressive driving and red-light running to police in Houston without worrying about tinted windows. 

The Mayor also-yet again-implied the reason other cities are having disturbances is because people are responding to ICE abuses. It is the abuser that is at fault. Not the victims of the abuse. 

The Mayor discussed funds that might be lost if we push back on ICE. I understand that. But access to our own tax dollars cannot be contingent on accepting the loss of our rights. Mayor Whitmire keeps saying we should accept that trade off. He offers no off ramp to this deal with the devil. We see it extends to the brutality of ICE. Will it go as far as accepting Greg Abbott taking control of Harris County elections as he is threatening? There would be no way to trust the vote count with Greg Abbott in charge. 

The next public comment session time for Houston City Council is at 5 PM on Tuesday, 1/27.  

Below is information on how you can be a part of the process at Houston City Council: 

Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM with the exception once each month when it is at 5:00 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. You must register to speak by 3 PM the day before. 

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 past sessions are 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-Alejandra Salinas 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] ​​

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