Police chiefs around the country find themselves in a tough spot. Roving and sweeping immigration raids by masked federal agents across the country have understandably caused a panic among undocumented immigrants, sowing mistrust and fear of law enforcement. Meanwhile, some residents are asking questions about their police department’s relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Politicians and activists are taking these concerns to the extreme, demanding that police departments not cooperate with ICE or treating any partnership with immigration authorities as suspicious.
We’re seeing this tension play out in Dallas, and we worry that activist pressure on the Dallas Police Department to reject partnerships with federal agents will backfire on the city.
Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux, who took the helm in April, has said his agency doesn’t have special programs to search for immigrants. In fact, existing DPD policy allows, but doesn’t require, officers to ask about a person’s immigration status only if the person has been legally detained or arrested. Per department rules, police cannot arrest a person solely because the person is undocumented.
Comeaux has also said that DPD will cooperate with federal agencies when requested and as long as the arrest is legal.
Opinion
That is an appropriate stance. Dallas police have worked with ICE and other federal partners on investigations about targets ranging from businesses selling counterfeit goods to gang leaders and fugitives. For instance, Dallas police, ICE and other agencies worked together to arrest a Venezuelan woman suspected of recklessly driving a jet ski and killing an 18-year-old kayaker at Grapevine Lake on Memorial Day.
DPD and other local police agencies have participated in task forces with ICE over the years without controversy. Last year, Farmers Branch police worked with ICE and Homeland Security Investigations to arrest three Venezuelan men accused of killing a fourth Venezuelan in North Texas. Authorities said the men belong to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang tied to crimes across several states, even as the progressive left disputed the extent of the gang’s presence in the U.S.
We share concerns over the tactics employed by the Trump administration to apprehend undocumented immigrants in indiscriminate raids that raise questions about due process and racial profiling. But we are not aware of any specific allegations that DPD has participated in such raids. At a Dallas City Council meeting last week, a public speaker accused DPD of being “complicit” yet offered zero evidence.
The police chief has insisted that DPD’s policies on immigration haven’t changed. He hasn’t expressed a desire to take on immigration duties through the controversial 287(g) program with ICE, nor did his immediate predecessors. So why are activists so intent on forcing DPD to say it won’t share information with ICE, or that it won’t work with the agency, when there are occasions when cooperation is legitimate? Progressives are baiting Republican leaders to make DPD a political target, and for no good reason. No one has indicated that DPD is actually participating in immigration raids, and there will be cases, such as gang investigations, that warrant cooperation with the feds.
Forcing DPD to take an absolutist stance against ICE is foolish, and the attacks on Dallas police without proof of wrongdoing will help erode whatever goodwill officers have built with immigrant communities over the years.