People already don’t have much trust in the police, and now with ICE involved, that trust has dropped even further. If you didn’t know, police these days are basically acting as the eyes and ears for ICE. They’re required to report anyone with an immigration warrant, even if that person is coming to them for help, including in cases of abuse. An immigrant woman from El Salvador, currently living in Houston, Texas, experienced this firsthand.
She called 911 to report her ex-husband for being abusive. But instead of fully helping her, the police reported her to ICE. She had a warrant because her asylum claim had been denied. Thankfully, the Houston woman wasn’t arrested since there was nobody else available to take custody of her children.
The police defended their actions by saying they still assisted her and gave her support resources, even though they also contacted immigration authorities. Despite what happened, the mayor of Houston denied that the city is actively cooperating with ICE. He still encouraged victims of domestic violence to continue reaching out to the police for help, regardless of immigration status.
The president of the Houston Police Officers Union also defended the department, saying officers never intentionally ask people about their immigration status. However, he acknowledged that they are still required to follow federal rules to avoid the risk of losing important funding.
Many people have criticized the Houston police for reporting a domestic abuse victim to ICE. They pointed out that the immigrant community is already wary of law enforcement and lives in constant fear of deportation. Incidents like this only deepen the mistrust toward the police.
One user wrote, “You call cops if you want more abuse, not less.” Others remarked that it wouldn’t be surprising if police would rather hand immigrants over to ICE than actually deal with their cases. On Reddit, some users expressed concern that this kind of response would only encourage more criminal behavior, since victims might now be too afraid to come forward.
One user commented, “Sex trafficking and human enslavement just got easier. If people are afraid to call for help because they’re scared of being sent to some detention center in a country they aren’t even from, why get out of the pan to go into the fire?”
Others questioned why background checks were even necessary in situations involving victims, suggesting that the true intent was to hand people over to immigration enforcement. As one user put it, “That’s some bulls***. The victim of a crime shouldn’t be background checked instead of helped at that time. That would be like me being seriously injured in a car accident by someone else, and you ran my background and arrested me. Smdh.”
