Dallas officials have for months avoided clarifying their stance on the police department’s involvement in arrests and detentions led by immigration enforcement officers.
On Wednesday, nearly a dozen residents arrived at City Hall to speak out amid heightened security. Members of the public were handed flyers referencing Texas law about disorderly conduct and meeting disruptions as they crossed the metal detectors to get into the council chambers.
Speakers asked questions surrounding the police department’s policy on sharing personal information with ICE agents and demanded officers notify family members of residents who have been detained. They also wanted to ensure DPD officers were not volunteering information unless deemed legally necessary.
“[Police Chief Daniel Comeaux] went on an interview on Fox News, and he said he would work with these federal agencies. But we need to know what is going on, what is being said in those traffic stops,” said Azael Alvarez, one of the speakers. “We need to know what is being sold to them.”
Political Points
The Dallas Morning News has repeatedly sent questions requesting the department’s policy on information sharing and the number of cases where officers had assisted ICE agents.
A DPD spokesperson said the department currently does not track specific instances where officers assist an outside agency.
Council members typically do not address public speakers, though a majority of them voted to suspend rules to hear residents before conducting business.
Last year, Mayor Eric Johnson said he would help the federal government deport undocumented migrants accused of crimes and faced pushback from local Latino leaders.
Comeaux, months into his tenure as the police chief, has been asked several times if the police department was helping ICE agents in a variety of circumstances. He has routinely said the department will help federal partners “whenever help is needed or requested.” Nearly two months ago, during the last community police oversight board meeting, city attorneys ran interference when board members began asking Comeaux similar questions.
At the time, an assistant city attorney said the meeting was only for introductory questions and any questions about immigration policy were beyond the scope. That did not sit well with several board members, who said they had sent the police chief detailed questions prior to the meeting and felt that they had been set up by the city.
Anthony Lazon Conde, a community advocate, said there was widespread fear among community members.
“Prosecutions and kidnappings are happening in our city right now as we speak,” Lazon Conde said. “Children are being separated from their families. Children are starting school not knowing whether they’ll ever see their parents.”
Anthony Lazon Conde speaks about U.S. immigration policy during a Dallas City Council meeting, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, at Dallas City Hall.
Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer
The Dallas Police Department’s current policies bar officers from stopping or contacting anyone solely to determine their immigration status. Officers can only ask people who are lawfully detained or arrested about their immigration status.
Local law enforcement can arrest undocumented migrants through 287(g), a national program that deputizes local officers to assist ICE and carry out a limited number of immigration enforcement actions. Participation is currently voluntary in Texas. At least 51 law enforcement agencies in the state are enrolled.
But Dallas police officials have not announced any plans just yet. The city of Keller was the latest to greenlight a partnership with ICE through the 287(g) program.
Other city departments are also feeling the pressure of immigration policies. In July, local immigration groups decried conditions at an ICE field office in the Stemmons Corridor. Advocates filed a complaint with the city’s code compliance department, but the city officials said the report was closed as it did not fall under their jurisdiction.
Former reporter Kelli Smith contributed to the report