Houston mayor limits police notifications to ICE

Houston Mayor John Whitmire has ordered police to limit when they notify federal immigration authorities, ending alerts based solely on an administrative immigration warrant during routine encounters. Under the policy, Houston police may contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when a person is arrested for an offense punishable by jail time, according to the mayor’s description of the order.

The directive applies to routine traffic stops and other encounters that do not lead to an arrest. A person receiving a traffic citation will not be referred to ICE just because an administrative warrant exists, Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz said. Diaz said the department supports the change and has begun implementing it.

Reports differ on the precise conditions for contacting ICE. Whitmire and some accounts described notification as permitted when someone is arrested and charged with a jailable offense. Another account of the order also cited an administrative ICE warrant as a condition. The order says immigration-enforcement status alone cannot justify contacting ICE, extending a detention or holding someone in custody. The full scope of the qualifying conditions is not...