Hitchcock City Council votes against ICE partnership with police department

HITCHCOCK, Texas (KTRK) -- A proposal to bring Hitchcock Police into a federal immigration partnership is off the table.

Monday night, city council members voted down an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would have expanded the department's role in immigration enforcement.

A three-to-two vote stopped Hitchcock from joining the 287(g) program, which is a partnership that would have trained more than a dozen officers to work alongside ICE after local criminal arrests.

According to ICE, there are more than 2,100 participating law enforcement agencies across the country.

The Hitchcock agenda item said 16 law enforcement officers would've been trained as 287g task force officers.

"So what does that look like? It looks like during the course of normal investigations or criminal law investigations, an officer if they believe that someone is here illegally, then they can contact the Department of Homeland Security to confirm the residency status," Assistant Chief Jeff Evans said.

Evans highlighted incentives tied to the partnership.

"The federal government has allocated for each partner agency $100,000 per year for related expenses, $7,500 per officer," he said. "We would also have access to reimbursement of funds for time spent while on call."

Some council members said they see the benefit of training local police in this way.

"They have a better rapport with the citizens, and it's handled in a more humane way rather than strangers coming in here and doing what they do," Councilmember Brian Smith said.

Others, like Councilmember Mary Combs Demby, said they couldn't justify the program.

"I understand that this department is underfunded and the officers underpaid, but I truly believe this is not the way to do it," Combs Demby said.

This discussion comes less than two weeks after two fatal shootings involving ICE agents. One of them was in Houston and involved 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.

DHS claimed Salgado Araujo was evading arrest and allegedly rammed his car into an ICE vehicle. However, at this moment, there's no video released showing that. DHS also said the agents involved were not wearing body cameras.

Those events were ultimately top of mind as council weighed the proposal.

"Whatever amount of money that the city gets is not worth anybody's life," Combs Demby said. "We have seen what has gone on with ICE."