Howe police officers can be trained and certified to carry out some federal immigration enforcement duties under an agreement the City Council approved on Aug. 18, according to signed minutes of that meeting posted to the city website on Tuesday.
The minutes describe a memorandum of agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, and the Howe Police Department. Under it, ICE delegates to officers or employees of the department who are nominated, trained and certified the authority to perform certain immigration enforcement functions, which are spelled out in the agreement.
Council member Billie Ingram made the motion and Shawn Tyler seconded it. The vote was unanimous among the four members present: Tyler, Ingram, Ed Whitfield and Chad Woods. Ricky Price was absent. The minutes record no public comment on the item.
The agreement itself was not posted with the minutes, so the record does not say which form of the program the department joined or how many officers will take part.
How the program works
The arrangement falls under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which Congress added in 1996. It lets ICE give state and local officers specified immigration duties under the agency's direction and oversight. ICE operates three versions of the program and says it uses them to work with local agencies to identify and remove "criminal aliens who are amenable to removal."
According to ICE, participating departments nominate the officers who take part. Nominees must be U.S. citizens and pass a background investigation, and ICE covers the cost of their training. As of Oct. 2, the agency reported 2,617 signed agreements covering 39 states and two U.S. territories.
The debate in Texas
In 2025 the Legislature passed Senate Bill 8, which requires Texas sheriffs who run or contract out a county jail to request and enter these agreements, The Texas Tribune reported.
