Last week a small group of Houston City Council members attempted to call a special meeting to discuss Mayor Bill White's decision to bypass Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program in favor of the less restrictive and less expensive Secure Communities system.

The council member pushing the effort, District A's outgoing Toni Lawrence, has been organizing for a possible challenge to Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole. Many political observers saw the move as an attempt to gain support in Eversole's conservative North Harris County precinct by talking tough on immigration.

The majority of the council wisely stayed away, and the lack of a quorum killed the session. This week Mayor White unveils the city's involvement in the Secure Communities effort. When the necessary computer links are operational early next month, it will allow city jailers to screen every prisoner for serious offenses using enhanced fingerprinting that's run through ICE's Homeland Security database. Houston will have access to the federal computer system through the Texas Department of Public Safety. It will not be available nationwide to local law enforcement until 2013 due to the demand on ICE personnel and computer capabilities.

According to Mayor White, the program will eliminate the cost and commitment of dozens of officers to the training required by 287(g).

"The Secure Communities program is faster and more automated because ICE computers make the identification instead of relying on local resources and the interview process," says the mayor. "We want something fast and complete that does not require us to take officers off the street who could be solving crimes."

Most serious violators arrested by HPD are processed through the Harris County jail, which already participates in 287(g). Rather than shifting the burden of enforcing immigration laws to the city, Secure Communities will allow Houston police to quickly access federal databases to determine whether any prisoner has a criminal record.

Instead of playing immigration politics, council members should support the mayor's sensible course of action.

Houston Chronicle
November 3, 2009