Dallas City Council members are pushing back on a call from Mayor Eric Johnson to explore the benefits of partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and get potentially $25 million in reimbursements. “We remain concerned with the practices being deployed by ICE agents through federal directives,” said council members Chad West, Jaime Resendez, Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon in ...

Clouds pass over Dallas City Hall on Sept. 12, 2025, in Dallas.

Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

Dallas City Council members are pushing back on a call from Mayor Eric Johnson to explore the benefits of partnering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and get potentially $25 million in reimbursements.

“We remain concerned with the practices being deployed by ICE agents through federal directives,” said council members Chad West, Jaime Resendez, Adam Bazaldua and Paula Blackmon in a joint statement Saturday, adding that the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to make arrests for immigration violations, “could result in a betrayal of trust between the Dallas Police Department and the very communities they are sworn to protect.”

“Said another way, safer communities are built through trust and connection. DPD participating in this program would certainly undermine progress made,” they said.

Last week, police Chief Daniel Comeaux told members of the Community Police Oversight Board that he had turned down the multimillion-dollar offer by ICE after being questioned repeatedly by board members.

Days later, Johnson, who didn’t agree with Comeaux’s unilateral decision, sent a memo asking for a joint public safety and government efficiency committee meeting to discuss the merits of the program. Policymaking and financial decisions fall under the council’s purview, he said, and the program would be a “force multiplier,” giving the police department a way to deploy additional resources to reduce violent crime and help hire more cops.

Some of his colleagues agreed that an ICE partnership is the City Council’s responsibility to consider.

In their statement, the four council members said the federal actions will have a long-lasting impact in a city that’s built on the contributions of immigrants and the larger international community. The majority of the residents in Dallas — about 42% — come from Latino or Hispanic families.

A day later, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Moreno and council member Laura Cadena released a joint statement of their own.

“Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government,” the two said, reiterating that local police need trust within the community for effective policing and public safety.

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