12/17/2025
This is lil Sis Tabby (18) standing before the City Council yesterday!, "My name is Tabitha, i’m from district j and i’m here speaking in opposition of ICE’s collaboration with HPD.
• as a native houstonian it saddens me to see my neighbors live their daily lives in fear that they will be detained and deported. during my last few months of high school, i worked at a restaurant that employed back of house workers that were primarily Guatemalan, Salvadoran or from other hispanic origins. around the time the current administration began its gestapo-like scheme i saw grown men wear an expression of worry and anxiety. soon these men who have children, wives, and families in their home country that depend on them were missing a shift or two a week in fear that they would be detained and deported. i even worried one of my coworkers would be detained when we went to take his citizenship test
• black and brown houstonians are already at an elevated risk of being pulled over for minor reasons and now it’s being used as a tool to deport migrants living legally in the country
• theres already a basic distrust in institutions like HPD among minorities as they’re built to systematically fail us and it only grows as HPD works with ICE. rather than protecting citizens from danger it has become the danger increasing fear and puts citizens in a position where they have to chose between their safety or possibly being deported and separated from their family.
• because of ICE’s increased presence in the city, immigrants who are the backbone of houston are skipping going to work, school, and other every day tasks like grocery shopping in fear that they might be stopped for the color or their skin or the language they speak
• according to the 2012 supreme court case Arizona v US, local laws don’t have the legal authority to arrest OR detain people based on civil immigration violations yet we find ourselves here today
• if we redirect HPD’s resources away from traffic stops for minor infractions like broken headlights or cracked windshields we can give them the officers they need for actual serious and urgent calls from citizens. maybe then it won’t take them an hour and a half to reach the scene
• as a citizen of houston and daughter of an immigrant, i’m urging you Mayor Whit-liar and council members to take action and cancel the city’s contract with flock, the mass surveillance camera system that tracks the license plates of potential immigrants across the city and pass an ordinance to end non-safety traffic stops. the overwhelming presence of ICE is increasing political polarization and instilling fear among black and brown houstonians."
