Austin Mayor Kirk Watson: Police are not assisting Trump’s operation targeting immigrants

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Austin police officers are not taking part in federal immigration enforcement operations in the capital city, Mayor Kirk Watson said Wednesday, but that he has seen how the actions have stoked fear in his community.

Agents from multiple federal agencies — including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI — carried out immigration enforcement operations in Texas cities including Austin over the weekend. The Trump administration threatened local officials last week with prosecution if they thwart the administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants — a move immigrant rights advocacy groups and legal experts is more of an intimidation tactic than one with teeth.

Local law enforcement agencies have long said that immigration enforcement is a federal matter, outside of their jurisdiction. Watson said ICE’s priorities haven’t changed with the new administration — that the agency is targeting people who they believe post a “threat to national security,” those with a criminal background and people who have a final deportation order.

“It is palpable, the fear that is out there in our community,” Watson said during an interview with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Matthew Watkins.

Watson’s remarks echo those made earlier this week by Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, who told CBS Austin that immigration enforcement is not within the department’s jurisdiction. Davis only learned of the federal operation after it was already underway, she told the news station Tuesday.

Watson’s not alone. Houston Mayor John Whitmire, too, said Houston’s police force has not assisted federal immigration enforcement efforts, the Houston Chronicle reported. But local officials in other parts of the state have said they’re eager to help the Trump administration’s immigration efforts.

Lawmakers in the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature have long tried to compel local law enforcement agencies to assist federal immigration enforcement efforts. State lawmakers in 2017 passed a law that prohibited local policies that prevent a peace officer from asking about a person's immigration status. The law also requires that Texas authorities cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

GOP legislators have shown an appetite to go further. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday named requiring local law enforcement agencies to aid federal deportation efforts as one of his top legislative priorities.

The Trump administration’s order this week to freeze federal loans and grants threw Austin officials for a loop as they tried to figure out which parts of city government could see the greatest harm resulting from cuts, Watson said. As Watson spoke, Trump rescinded the order.

“It’s Wednesday,” Watson joked.

Watson, a former state senator, spoke about his relationship with state lawmakers who are often hostile toward the capital city, Austin’s falling rents, reforms aimed at reining in the city’s housing costs and efforts to help residents experiencing homelessness.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.