Local law enforcement has been tangled up with immigration enforcement.

And here in Austin, that entanglement has been confusing.

there was a lot of confusion, some confusion.

This is complicated stuff.

So let's break down what's going on with Immigration Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement.

First, let's talk about the Austin Police Department.

Confusion about ICE and APD started when APD responded to a disturbance call, ran a background check on the woman involved, and then contacted ICE when an administrative warrant popped up, which resulted in the deportation of her and her child.

That decision raised questions about how APD handles administrative warrants.

Administrative warrants are not real warrants.

That's Jose 'Chito' Vela.

Mayor Pro Tem, District Four City council member and former immigration lawyer.

They're not signed by a judge.

They don't give anybody the, other than immigration authorities, the power to arrest and detain someone.

So there was a lot of confusion.

He says administrative warrants used to just be internal ICE documents.

But in 2025, these warrants started appearing in federally maintained databases that police use.

And a memo APD said that's caused confusion and the need for a clear policy.

We have been, a little behind the curve in, responding to, these documents and getting both legal guidance and getting policies, to, to allow our patrol officers to, to, to to to inform them as to what they're supposed to do when they see these documents.

And we're trying to balance both our, obligations under state law, SB 4 in particular.

here's where it gets tricky.

Senate Bill Four, among other things, does not allow cities or other entities to make policies that restrict their officers from cooperating with ICE.

State law prevents us from telling APD you cannot communicate with ICE.

That that would be, illegal under state law.

So my goal would be to, be very careful about when a patrol officer can communicate with ICE on these administrative warrants.

So what is APD supposed to do when coming across these warrants?

According to a memo written by Davis, The general orders they create can't stop officers from calling ICE and coming across administrative warrants.

According to KUT, the proposed new orders would leave it up to the discretion of an officer if they want to call ICE when seeing an administrative warrant.

However, officers will need permission from their shift commanders on whether they can wait while Ice response As of recording.

APD's new orders aren't out yet, but Vela says he hopes that clear policy can be written that complies with state laws while also maintaining trust with communities.

This should be an exceptional circumstance where we're communicating with ICE about an administrative warrant.

It needs to be a situation where that person is a real danger, and not a situation where we have, like, a mother and a child with no criminal history and no, criminal background.

ICE cooperation also extends outside city limits through sheriffs and Senate Bill Eight.

Senate Bill Eight is a state law that went into effect this year.

It requires sheriffs that operate a jail, and counties with a population of over 100,000 to request to enter into an immigration law enforcement agreement with ICE.

And in Texas, that's most counties Through these agreements, known as 287 G agreements, ICE can train and deputize certain officers to enforce federal immigration laws.

it allows a local law enforcement agency to choose certain officers who are trained and then deputized to enforce immigration laws.

That's Huyen Pham, a law professor at Texas A&M University.

Under this agreement are three different models for sheriffs to choose from that range and different levels of cooperation.

There's the task force model, which Pham says is the most cooperative model.

It allows sheriffs to question people about immigration status and serve and execute warrants during routine police work.

While they're investigating crimes, talking to people, it is the most extensive model.

It gives, those deputized officers the most authority, The other two models limit an officer's immigration powers to inside the jail.

For example, the jail force enforcement model lets officers question people citizenship status who are already detained.

And that basically, allows those deputized officers to exercise, their immigration powers, but only end, only after a person has been arrested and as they're going through the booking process.

So it centers those activities at the detention center.

then Pham says there's the least cooperative model.

The warrant service officer program.

It gives the local deputized officers the limited authority to serve and execute administrative warrants on immigrants that are already detained in that jail.

The number of sheriff's deputies to do Immigration enforcement can depend on which model assigned and what a department can afford.

Historically, when the agreements were first created by Congress, they weren't very popular, in large part because of this resource question, because the way the agreements are structured, the federal government will pay to train the officers.

But that officer's time, both during training and during carrying out these, immigration duties, is paid for by the local right, law enforcement agency.

So that can be a very substantial cost.

So who's signed?

As of recording, Travis County as well as Hays County hasn't signed an agreement yet.

They have until the end of the year to sign something.

If not, they can't face legal consequences Other nearby counties have already signed a type of agreement Williamson County has signed a warrant service officer model.

Bastrop and Caldwell County signed both a warrant officer model and a task force model.

As of recording, over 200 counties in Texas have signed agreements since 2025.

So, what can you do?

It's important to know your rights and know what state laws are in effect.

But it's also important to know that immigration law is complex, and people, even law enforcement, can get it wrong.

I think we have to be aware of our rights, but also very rational and pragmatic in these moments.

That's Kate Lincoln Goldfinch, an immigration lawyer in Austin.

And so my advice as an attorney is that we all need to stay calm and do our best in these moments to de-escalate.

And sometimes justice has to come later.

she says it's also important to come up with an emergency plan of action if something should happen.

I think that everybody who is an immigrant needs to have a relationship with an immigration lawyer, consult with an immigration lawyer, not a paralegal, not a forms preparer, not an notario, not your cousin or your neighbor, but actually have a relationship with an attorney where you can talk about your safety plan and you could prepare, could look like having emergency contacts ready, establishing designated caregivers for children, or setting up your finances.

Decisions that we don't want are made in emergency situations.

And it's much better to think through what we're going to do and what our strategy is going to be before an emergency occurs, like an arrest or a detention.