League City staff brief council on 287(g) immigration option; councilmember plans vote

League City staff briefed the City Council on Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act and on Texas's Operation Lone Star program, describing two 287(g) models that could be used by the city and noting current limits on state funding for municipalities.

In a presentation, the Police Chief said the 287(g) program "specifically authorizes, or grants certain powers to, local and state, law enforcement, for a limited array of, immigration enforcement, practices." He described three models in the program, saying the jail enforcement model is aimed at larger county-level jails and is not applicable to League City's facility, while the warrant-service officer and task-force models could be considered for limited uses.

The Chief told council the warrant-service model would let a trained, credentialed officer sign federal immigration arrest warrants in the city's correctional facility, reducing the need for an ICE agent to travel to the jail to execute the warrant. "All we would do then is sign the arrest warrant," he said. He described the task-force model as a tool to use in long-term criminal…