Councilmembers withdraw request for meeting on SAPD cooperation with ICE
A request for a special meeting to discuss limitations on San Antonio Police officers’ cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been withdrawn.
It’s unclear if all three councilmembers who had submitted the initial request last Friday —Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), Teri Castillo (D5), and Ric Galvan (D6) — were onboard with pausing their attempt, but a joint statement from Galvan and Castillo said the wording of their Nov. 6 memo needed to be reworked.
“My council colleagues and I remain committed to clarifying the circumstances under which the San Antonio Police Department may contact the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The language in last week’s three-signature memo is undergoing necessary updates to establish an effective, clear, and responsible path forward to protect our residents, respect constitutional rights, and keep our police officers focused on their primary responsibility: protecting the people of San Antonio.
“We look forward to bringing this discussion before the full City Council and working toward a policy that reflects San Antonio’s values while best serving our residents.”
Ric Galvan (D6) & Teri Castillo (D5)
A spokeswoman for McKee-Rodriguez (D2) referred questions about the reason for withdrawing the memo to Castillo’s office and told KSAT the East Side councilman wouldn’t be providing a statement.
She did not reply to a text message asking if McKee-Rodriguez had been against withdrawing the meeting request.
The trio had originally filed a three-signature memo on Nov. 6, calling for a special meeting to consider an ordinance to limit SAPD cooperation with ICE.
“Existing mandates and practices by state leadership” to require cities and their police departments to cooperate with ICE under the threat of withheld funding would “presumably be impacted” by the Nov. 3 election results, they wrote at the time.
Read their initial proposal below:
“The San Antonio Police Department personnel shall contact ICE regarding a person only if that person is already going to jail on new charges or other warrants and has a positive National Crime Information Center (NCIC) hit for an ICE administrative warrant. The fact that a person is, or is suspected to be, subject to immigration enforcement shall not, by itself, be a basis to contact ICE, to prolong any detention, or to take any person into or hold any person in custody. If a person is not otherwise going to jail on new charges or other warrants, Department personnel shall not contact ICE regarding that person.”
Proposed council ordinance, Nov. 6 memo
It is unclear how that proposed ordinance could change or when it might be brought forward again.
Their request came the same day that Houston Mayor John Whitmire similarly directed police to contact ICE only when someone is arrested for a jailable offense and has an administrative ICE warrant. Whitmire’s order was announced as effective immediately.
San Antonio City Council would need to vote to implement the proposed ordinance.
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