As immigrant arrests rise, here’s what to know about ICE operations in Texas
As the Trump Administration intensifies its sweeping immigration crackdown, outrage across the country is building — especially after recent shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, on Jan. 7 when she attempted to drive away as agents tried to get her out of her vehicle. Two days later during a vehicle stop in Portland, Oregon, a Border Patrol agent shot and wounded two Venezuelans. One of them, Luis David Nino-Moncada, recently pleaded not guilty of aggravated assault against a federal officer and damaging federal property.
Soon after, protests erupted across the country in both blue states such as California and New York and red states like Texas — which saw large demonstrations in Houston, Austin, Dallas and other cities.
Trump, who made mass deportations a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, reiterated his administration’s commitment to the policy in a press release on Wednesday, linking higher deportations to lower housing costs, higher wages and lower crime.
During his second term, Trump has shifted the government’s focus from border enforcement to arresting and deporting undocumented immigrants from the nation’s interior. Daily ICE arrests in Texas have jumped from an average of 85 per day during the final 18 months of the Biden Administration to 176 per day in the first six months under Trump, according to a Tribune analysis.
Undocumented immigrants in Texas have reported staying home as much as possible to avoid being targeted by immigration officers or police.
Meanwhile, ICE facilities in Texas and elsewhere have been targeted: In September, a 29-year-old man fired on an immigration enforcement office in Dallas, killing two detainees and wounding another. Just a few months earlier, a group of nearly a dozen people attacked a detention center in Alvaro with tactical gear and weapons, injuring a local law enforcement officer.
Here’s what to know about how ICE is operating in Texas and what rights people have when approached by an agent.
How is ICE arresting people in Texas?
The most high-profile operations are street raids, where ICE agents, often accompanied by state troopers and local police, target a particular area or business and arrest groups of undocumented immigrants.
Some of the biggest raids have taken place in and around Houston: In May, ICE said it deported more than 500 people and arrested more than 400 suspected undocumented immigrants in and around the city in roughly one week. In October, ICE carried out another massive operation in Houston over the course of 10 days, in which they said they arrested more than 1,500 undocumented immigrants.
ICE has focused mainly on the state’s large urban areas, but earlier this year, according to Border Report, the head of the South Texas Builders Association said agents have been raiding construction sites along the border.
But the most common way ICE agents track down undocumented immigrants is through the local criminal justice system. Immigration agents can request that jails hold an undocumented person who has been jailed, then turn them over to ICE for deportation. The Harris County Jail leads the country for such immigration holds, also known as ICE detainers, according to a Tribune analysis.
ICE is also increasingly targeting immigrants when they arrive for court hearings or routine immigration appointments; ICE agents have arrested people at federal buildings in El Paso, immigration courts in San Antonio and probation offices in Dallas.
How and why does ICE work with local police departments?
Early in Trump’s second administration, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to support federal immigration enforcement operations in tracking down and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Some sheriffs in Texas have signed agreements to work closely with ICE to enforce immigration laws. A new state law passed in last year’s legislative session requires sheriffs in all counties with a jail to enter into such agreements, also known as the 287(g) program, this year. Since Trump returned to the White House, more than half of ICE arrests in Texas have come from local jails, according to the Tribune analysis.
Even in Democrat-run Texas cities like Austin and San Antonio, where local leaders in the past have stated their police won’t cooperate with immigration officers, the state requires local police departments to support ICE operations — a policy adopted by other states like Florida and Louisiana.
According to KUT, the Austin Police Department on Thursday announced that officers have “general orders” to work alongside federal immigration officers to execute immigration warrants. In March, Houston police were instructed to call federal immigration authorities if they come across a person who has deportation orders in the national crime database.
Are any places off limits to ICE agents?
The Trump administration, early in his second term, rescinded federal policies that limited arrests of immigrants in sensitive locations such as schools, churches and hospitals.
But to enter private spaces such as homes and businesses, immigration agents and police still need a warrant signed by a judge to enter.
If ICE agents approach you in public, what are your rights?
Anyone confronted by an ICE agent has the right to remain silent and if the person is detained, they have the right to an attorney. If an agent doesn’t have a signed warrant, people have the right to refuse them entry into their home and the right to refuse searches, regardless of their citizenship status. Agents have the right to pat a person down to check for weapons.
The American Civil Liberties Union advises people to stay calm and not resist or obstruct the agents. They also advise people not to lie to agents or give them fake documents.
They recommend that people memorize phone numbers of their family members and friends, and their lawyer. If they take medication, have a plan for another person to give those medications to agents if they are arrested.
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