Dozens of Dallas residents and community organizations are demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are identifiable when operating in the city.
A joint statement with around 70 signatures from organizations and individual community members was presented to the Dallas Community Police Oversight Board on Tuesday.
The letter includes three requests for transparency on interactions between the Dallas Police Department and ICE: requiring verifiable identification, mandatory monthly reporting, and requiring judicial warrants for non-public city facilities.
Resident William Harrison said unknown masked agents escalated situations and were not in the interest of resident and local police safety.
"If a masked man tries to invade our homes and we can't call the DPD to verify identity, then how can innocent citizens in our city expect to keep themselves safe?" Harrison asked the board.
A majority of Community Police Oversight Board members voted in favor of signing on to the community letter.
Board Member Julia Simon, who voted against signing the letter, said she was concerned about the tone of the letter.
"I don't have a problem signing this as a citizen myself," Simon said. "As a board, I wanna make sure the tone and the structure of what I present has a tone that understands what I've been entrusted to do."
However, Brandon Friedman said it was clear the letter came from the community and the board's signature would only show support.
He also made a motion for the board to draft its own letter to send to the city manager and city council requesting DPD to prioritize emergency calls by Dallas residents over assisting federal agencies.
"And right now, DPD can't meet their response time standards from when somebody calls the cops," Friedman said. "And I think they should be required to meet those before they work with ICE and [Customs and Border Protection]."
An investigation by NBC 5 last year found long response times for DPD's Priority 1 and 2 calls. Lowering response times has remained a priority since then.
Board Member Jonathan Maples echoed Friedman's concerns about response times.
"We should all be on board with saying, 'Hey, we know that your hands are tied with the federal agency called ICE, but we need our Dallas citizens taken care of first'," Maples said.
Community members plan to submit their letter to city officials within two weeks. The board plans to send its own letter to the City Manager and City Council in the coming weeks asking for Dallas residents to be prioritized over federal agencies.
Immigration enforcement has been a topic of growing concern for some Dallas residents for months.
Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux has maintained that DPD is not working with ICE and does not conduct immigration enforcement. But the department does cooperate with federal partners, like setting perimeters to "maintain the safety of all parties involved."
Residents and the city's Community Police Oversight Board have wanted to know more details on how often DPD interacts with ICE. However Comeaux told the board earlier this month that sharing those details would "not be in the best interest" of law enforcement.
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