Dallas residents are concerned that the city's police department is working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite a decision by police not to join the ICE 287(g) program.
Dallas City Council members on the Public Safety and Government Efficiency committees backed Chief of Police Daniel Comeaux's decision to not join the program last month. The 287(g) task force program would have used DPD officers for immigration enforcement.
But residents at Tuesday's Community Police Oversight Board meeting said they're concerned DPD are assisting ICE anyway.
Azael Alvarez with El Movimiento DFW played a video during the board meeting that showed ICE officers searching vehicles with DPD officers standing nearby. He said the incident happened in Pleasant Grove in late November.
DPD told Telemundo Dallas that DPD officers had responded to a report of a man being followed and later discovered the people following were ICE agents conducting an investigation. Dallas police were positioned at the scene to "maintain the safety of all parties involved", according to the statement.
But Alvarez said DPD's presence did more harm than good.
DPD has been working very hard to build that trust with the Latino community," Alvarez said. "And encounters just like that threaten that trust, not just for Latinos, but for all of Dallas."
He added that it raises public safety issues and wanted to know the department's protocol for confirming identities and lawful authority of individuals claiming to be ICE agents.
Board member John Mark Davidson said an official complaint was filed in regard to the Pleasant Grove incident caught on video.
Dallas resident Nora Soto said there have been continuous sightings of DPD officers with ICE as they conduct deportations. Soto was among several people who signed up to speak about ICE during the meeting.
Soto said that Comeaux previously emphasized the importance of community trust to help lower crime.
"That was already a very unstable connection between the police and the community, and now it's even further destabilized because of what's happening with ICE," Soto said.
DPD is not part of the ICE 287(g) program, however Comeaux has previously said the department is required to cooperate with federal agencies when needed.
Residents and other community members have spoken against local police working with ICE for months, since the federal agency ramped up detainments this summer.
CPOB member Aswad Smith said he wanted to know whether DPD's Flock cameras shared information with other police agencies, specifically ICE. Texas Senate Bill 8, passed this year, requires sheriffs' offices to collaborate with ICE.
Sergeant Adam Reinhart said DPD could potentially share information with ICE through that avenue, but did not know which agencies get information shared from the department. He said he would get the information to the CPOB after Tuesday's meeting.
Board member Brandon Friedman said the CPOB needed a monthly briefing from DPD on any collaboration with ICE moving forward.
"I don't care if they're just setting a perimeter or whatever, my view is they don't need to have anything to do with ICE," Friedman said. "DPD's responsibility is to protect Dallas residents, in my view."
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