ICE’s Intimidation and Racial Profiling of Immigrants inside of Harris County Jails Must End
by Naiyolis Palomo & Juan Martinez-Guevara
Now that Harris County Sheriff Gonzalez’s nomination for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director has been withdrawn – Gonzales must address the limbo in which he has left Harris County. While nominated as ICE Director, Sheriff Gonzalez refused to provide leadership that would protect the Harris County community and stand up to ICE. Instead, he has portrayed himself as “tough on immigration,” voluntarily supporting ICE in racially profiling, caging, and deporting Black and Brown immigrants.
Now that Sheriff Gonzalez no longer expects to leave Harris County, Houston Leads demands that he end the entanglement with ICE that puts immigrant communities at such grave risk of being torn apart from their homes and loved ones. Join our advocacy efforts by signing our petition!
Prior to his nomination, Sheriff Gonzalez portrayed himself as an ally of the immigrant community, while simultaneously maintaining policies that allowed ICE to arrest and deport thousands of community members. Now, Harris County has one of the highest numbers of ICE arrests in the country. A large percentage of these are direct transfers from the Joint Processing Center (JPC), the arrest-booking facility for Harris County and the City of Houston, ultimately resulting in countless avoidable deportations.
Since 2018, Houston Leads, a coalition of immigrant community members and advocates, met with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), toured the JPC, and filed public records requests, concluding that the HCSO has multiple contracts and informal agreements with ICE. One of the most disturbing collaborations we uncovered is how ICE agents are allowed to operate inside the JPC. They are given full access to interrogate anyone, including people without an attorney. Unrepresented immigrants face ICE threats and intimidation and may disclose information that could lead to their deportation – they never learn of their right to remain silent.
With unlimited access to the JPC and booking information, ICE agents racially profile and intimidate Black and Brown immigrants based on characteristics such as name, accent, or skin color. They do not identify themselves as ICE agents and interrogate people about their immigration status and country of origin. They then use this information to issue an ICE detainer. A detainer is a written document that allows the jail to hold a person for more time even after they’ve paid their bond, served jail time, or been found innocent of any alleged wrongdoing. The detainer allows ICE additional time to pick up and transfer the person to immigration detention.
People under ICE detainers are not given a copy of their detainer until after they’re released from criminal custody. Not only is this unconstitutional, but it is beyond cruel to make a person — and their loved ones — believe that they will be released, only to instead be transferred into ICE custody, where conditions are nothing less than abysmal, and face deportation. It is Gonzalez’s responsibility to ensure individuals in his custody receive a copy of their ICE detainer as soon as it is issued.
A Texas Organizing Project (TOP) member, Marina Sanchez, recalls the experience of her husband’s arrest. She was horrified when she heard her husband talk about the conditions inside the jail, such as not receiving adequate medical care and being denied food when he didn’t complete his work during his kitchen shift, which began at 2am. However, when his wife went to pay his bond, she was shocked to hear that ICE placed a detainer on him and he’d be transferred to ICE custody upon his release from the county’s jail. Neither he or his family were ever informed by HCSO that an ICE detainer was placed on him — even when he asked to get a copy of his detainer, they didn’t give it to him. Until this day, her husband still does not know how ICE was able to place a detainer on him. He believes they found his immigration status when he got to the JPC and he was asked to fill out an intake form asking him about his “citizenship status,” which ICE had access to. No one at the JPC explained the paperwork he was signing or the immigration consequences he could face, he wasn’t allowed to call his family either. Thankfully, as a result of TOP’s advocacy, they were able to get the ICE detainer lifted, and he was never transferred to ICE custody. Since then, Houston Leads has also advocated against the use of intake forms that ask about citizenship status.
Now that Sheriff Gonzalez no longer expects to leave Harris County, Houston Leads demands that he end the entanglement that puts our immigrant communities at such grave risk of being torn apart from their homes and loved ones. We demand that the HCSO stop giving ICE space inside the JPC and stop sharing personal booking information, including date of birth and citizenship status, with ICE. Instead, HCSO should give the Harris County Public Defender’s Office a space to help inform people of their constitutional rights. Keeping ICE out of local jails will prevent people from being placed in cruel cages. HCSO must stop honoring invalid ICE detainers, which is a constitutional violation. If you want to help, join our advocacy efforts by signing our petition!
Naiyolis Palomo is the former Texas Regional Organizer for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and a member for the Houston Leads coalition. Juan Martinez-Guevara is the Texas Advocacy Coordinator for United We Dream and a member of the Houston Leads coalition.
