The Austin Police Department cannot avoid working with immigration enforcement agencies because of state law, APD Chief Lisa Davis said at a Feb. 5 public town hall meeting. However, she said the department can create policies on how it will interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Feelings are extremely high, and we are in unprecedented times in this country,” Davis said. “(I) understand the irony of all this, when I’m here trying to ask everyone to trust us, to report crimes to us, it’s challenging. … What I can say is the Austin Police Department does not ask immigration status.”
APD officers are given the option to contact ICE about administrative warrants because of a 2017 state law prohibiting any sanctuary city policies, Davis said. Immigration agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can issue administrative warrants to arrest a person for immigration violations, according to an information sheet by the National Immigration Law Center. However, these warrants do not authorize searches, differentiating them from judicial warrants, which are signed by a judge.
The majority of officers are not contacting ICE regarding administrative warrants, Davis said. However, if an officer chooses to contact ICE, she said an APD commander will decide if further action needs to be taken. Additionally, a commander can decide to fulfill a civil detainer, which are requests from ICE asking law enforcement to keep a person in custody for up to 48 hours after the time they were scheduled to be released, according to the agency.
“(The decision) will rise to the level of a commander, who understands the overall mission of all the things we have to do (within) this police department,” Davis said. “(We want to do) the community policing … and that commander will make that determination that we are not waiting for ICE.”
Immigration attorney Ruby Powers said it is important to know the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant. She said an administrative warrant alone does not give ICE the legal authority to enter someone’s home under the Fourth Amendment. Powers recommends reviewing American Civil Liberties Union guidance on how to seek legal counsel and how to proceed if stopped during transit.
“It can be very confusing to understand all of the interplays between the different law enforcement agencies and immigration enforcement,” Powers said. “It’s not always consistent with the different agreements coming about or being put on hold.”
Powers said these inconsistencies exist due to Texas cities and counties each interpreting immigration laws differently, as well as different types of relationships between local agencies and their interactions with ICE. Law enforcement potentially asking about immigration status during traffic stops and when contacting the police is a concern for communities, she said.
“That puts in a lot of fear in the community about law enforcement,” Powers said. “They don’t look at (law enforcement) as necessarily being there for safety purposes, but more of an immigration enforcement arm having an extension.”
Mayor pro tem José “Chito” Vela said at the town hall that even in cities with support from their respective states, such as Minneapolis and Chicago, large-scale ICE actions have taken place without being stopped by local police. Similarly, he said APD cannot “combat” ICE in the streets.
“The state of Texas is going the other way, and they are trying to block us at every turn, trying to make sure that we’re unable to protect our communities, but we are committed,” Vela said.
