Sheriff to probe deputy’s alleged threat to call ICE
Man says law enforcement officer asked about his immigration status, threatened to call ICE after accident
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says it will investigate a deputy who allegedly threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a man who refused to give his citizenship status.
The Harris County Sheriff ’s Office said Friday it will investigate a deputy who allegedly threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a man who refused to give his citizenship status after getting into a minor car accident on his way to a public hearing this week on Houston’s decision to join a lawsuit against the state’s controversial “sanctuary cities law.”
After the accident Tuesday, Victor Ibarra, who is in the country illegally, produced a Mexican passport and a Consular Identification Card in lieu of a driver’s license, which he cannot obtain given his status. Deputies then repeatedly asked Ibarra whether he was “illegal or legal,” Ibarra said at a news conference Friday at City Hall.
Ibarra told one of the deputies he was not comfortable answering questions about his immigration status without an attorney present. The officer then threatened to call ICE, Ibarra said.
Ibarra’s vehicle was eventually towed, and he was allowed to return home. There is no indication that ICE was called.
Ibarra had been driving to a public hearing Tuesday about the Houston City Council’s decision, made official the following day, to join Austin, San Antonio and Dallas in a lawsuit against the state of Texas in an attempt to block Senate Bill 4. The law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, requires Texas cities to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials.
The city will be at odds with the federal government, which sided with Texas on Friday.
“The Department of Justice fully supports Texas’ effort and is participating in this lawsuit because of the strong federal interest in facilitating the state and local cooperation that is critical in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
Over the last eight years, Texas and the federal government have clashed repeatedly in court on a multitude of issues. But the DOJ’s support in the lawsuit is another example of the changing relationship between the state and the federal government under President Donald Trump.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he is grateful for the DOJ’s assistance in defending SB 4 against the lawsuit. “Enforcing immigration law helps prevent dangerous criminals from being released into our communities,” Paxton said. “We look forward to working with DOJ lawyers to see that Senate Bill 4 is fully honored in Texas.”
But advocates said it creates a frightening climate.
“When incidents like this, a minor traffic incidence, turn into pretext for questioning people about their legal status, even after the involved party had said he can’t answer in the absence of his attorney, that’s a problem,” said David Michael Smith, a member of the Houston Socialist Movement, which helped organize the press conference.
According to a representative from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, there is no policy on whether deputies may ask about a person’s residency status, though they do prohibit racial profiling.
Houston Councilman Larry Green, who voted in favor of joining the lawsuit against SB 4, said there are major flaws with the bill, regardless of the Department of Justice position.
“Obviously our objective is to make sure cities have the right to make decisions in the best interest of cities and not be subjected to laws that don’t allow that,” Green said.