U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.
Lee Patrick Brown is an American politician, criminologist and businessman; in 1997 he was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Houston, Texas. He was re-elected twice to serve the maximum of three terms from 1998 to 2004.
Kathryn Jean Whitmire is an American politician, businesswoman, and accountant best known as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston, serving for five consecutive two-year terms from 1982 to 1992. From 1977 to 1981, she was the city controller, a position which made her the first woman elected to any office in the city. Whitmire drew national attention when she defeated former Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard in her election as mayor. The election drew national focus because it symbolized a major political realignment in the fourth-largest city in the United States.
The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary municipal law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest municipal police department, serving the fourth-largest city in the United States. Its headquarters are at 1200 Travis in Downtown Houston.
Annise Danette Parker is an American politician who served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and city controller from 2004 to 2010.
Section 287(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deputize selected state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. Section 287(g) allows the DHS and law enforcement agencies to make agreements, which require the state and local officers to receive training and work under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE provides the officers with authorization to identify, process, and—when appropriate—detain immigration offenders they encounter during their regular, daily law-enforcement activity.
A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law.
The history of the Houston Police Department started with the founding of the City of Houston. While the department's beginning was humble, it grew more advanced as technology became available and was able to handle the various challenges that would plague various cities as well as some of the more distinctive aspects of its geography.
Adrian Garcia is an American politician and the current County Commissioner for Precinct 2 in Harris County, Texas. Garcia spent 23 years with the Houston Police Department, before becoming a city councilman. Garcia served six years as a Houston City Councilman, eventually becoming Mayor Pro-Tempore under former Mayor Bill White. In 2008, he became Sheriff of Harris County. In 2015, Garcia stepped down from post as Sheriff to run for Mayor of the City of Houston. Garcia won the general election to be Commissioner of Precinct 2 for Harris County on November 6, 2018, after advancing from the primary on March 6, 2018. Garcia ran for re-election in 2022 and won the election against former Precinct 2 commissioner Jack Morman, with 52.6% of the vote.
The Houston mayoral election of 2009 took place on November 3, 2009, to elect the successor to incumbent Mayor Bill White. White was ineligible for re-election, having served three terms. The race is officially nonpartisan. After no candidate received a majority of the votes, the top two candidates – City Controller Annise Parker and former City Attorney Gene Locke – faced each other in a runoff election on December 12, 2009. On November 11, councilman Peter Brown publicly endorsed Parker in the Mayor's race. Annise Parker won the run-off.
Peter Hoyt Brown was a politician who held office as an at-large council member in the city of Houston, Texas. Known locally as "Peter Brown," he was a candidate for the 2009 Houston mayoral race, to succeed then Mayor Bill White, who vacated the position due to term limits. Although an independent poll conducted by 11 News/ KUHF Houston Public Radio poll in late October 2009 showed Brown holding the lead in the mayor's race with a nine-point lead over his nearest opponent, he was eliminated in the November 3, 2009, election.
The Edward A. Thomas Building, or 1200 Travis, is a 28-story building in Downtown Houston, Texas that is currently occupied by the Houston Police Department as its current headquarters. At one time it was known as the Houston Natural Gas Building. The building houses HPD's administrative and investigative offices.
Rodney Joseph Johnson was a Houston Police officer who served 14 years with the agency prior to his death in the line of duty on September 21, 2006.
Charles A. McClelland Jr. was the police chief of the Houston Police Department (HPD) from 2010 through 2016. Joining the department in May 1977, McClelland worked his way up through the ranks, from rookie to assistant chief in 1998, before being asked to step in as acting chief. A graduate of the University of Houston–Downtown, University of Houston–Clear Lake, and the FBI National Academy, he oversaw the department's implementation of tasers and a real-time crime analysis program.
Project Shadowfire was an American police investigation in early 2016 that resulted in the arrest of 1,133 people, 915 of whom were suspected members of "multinational organized criminal gangs", involved in murder, racketeering, drug smuggling and human trafficking from Mexico and elsewhere. The majority of the arrests took place in Los Angeles and San Francisco in California; El Paso and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. 70,000 US, 150 firearms and more than 20 kg narcotics were seized.
Thomas Douglas Homan is an American former police officer and government official who served during the Trump Administration as Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017 to June 29, 2018. Within the U.S. government, he was among the earliest proponents of separating children from their parents as a means of deterring illegal entry into the country. Since his retirement from government, he has been a Fox News contributor.
Inspector Vicki King is a pioneering threat safety scientist in the healthcare sector. She is the leader of the Threat Assessment Unit at the University of Texas at Houston Police Department, which is a component of the University of Texas System.
Christopher J. Magnus is a former American law enforcement professional who served as the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2021 to 2022. He was previously chief of police in Tucson, Arizona; Fargo, North Dakota; and Richmond, California. He is an advocate of community policing and of sanctuary cities and states.
The Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a civilian official in the United States Department of Homeland Security. During July 2010 the position's title was changed from Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Ed Gonzalez is an American law enforcement officer and has served as the 30th sheriff of Harris County, Texas since January 2017. Gonzalez was the nominee for director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until he withdrew the nomination in June 2022.
Houston Police Chief - 2004