Tarrant County deputies, officials clash with protesters over ICE enforcement in jails
Sheriff’s deputies clashed with protesters at Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, almost a year after Tarrant County agreed to indefinitely renew a plan to stay in a federal program that lets sheriff’s deputies work as ICE agents.
ICE out of Tarrant County, an organization dedicated to eradicating the federal 287(g) program, showed up at the meeting with a handful of members asking the commissioners to consider ending the program because they said it creates fear, mistrust and anxiety among immigrant communities. Fewer than 10 appeared at the meeting. The ICE policy was not on the agenda, so commissioners could not respond.
But, when the last member spoke, they broke out in chant as they made their way to exit.
“Judge Glen Whitley, turned your back!”
“Gary Fickes, turned your back!”
“J.D. Johnson, turned your back!”
“Fight’s not over, we’ll be back!”
Immediately, county deputies escorted them out. The group claims at least one of its members was shoved. While the chants started and the members were taken out, County Judge Glen Whitley said if it was legal, he wanted to dish out citations to the members for disturbing a public meeting and asked if there was a way to stop them from attending meetings altogether.
The county’s district attorney’s office is looking to see if they cite the protesters, Whitley said in a phone interview.
“We try to treat folks with respect and we expect the same,” Whitley said. “If they’re not going to be respectful, then I want to see if I can basically bar them coming back.”
In the coming weeks, the court may put the federal program on the agenda again, but it would be to review updated data and not take the program away. Whitley said because it is a federal program, the Biden Administration can take a look at it and possibly get rid of it.
Commissioner Devan Allen expressed concerns that members could be wrongfully cited for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Deputies could be heard discussing the possibility of jailing the protesters. The ICE policy has been in place since 2017, when Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office. The commissioners have since voted along party lines once a year to renew the program. But on June 16, 2020, officials instead renewed it indefinitely, with the caveat that they would still review the program.
Under the Texas Penal Code, a person commits a class B misdemeanor if they intentionally “prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, procession, or gathering” or they “obstruct or interfere with the meeting, procession, or gathering by physical action or verbal utterance.”
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said the chant could be seen as disorderly conduct and citations could happen, but it would be extreme and difficult to ban people unless it becomes a common occurrence.
Once outside, about four deputies approached the group, and one of them started to record a video of the protesters. Members recorded back. The deputies then returned to the courthouse.
“What happened just now is a continuation of their tactics they have used to try to silence us,” said Jonathan Guadian of ICE out of Tarrant.
On Whitley’s call for citations, Guadian said it was “concerning, but not surprising” and expressed concern that they were video-recorded so the deputies could identify them and come after them after they dispersed.
Kassandra Dobbs, a member of ICE out of Tarrant, said being escorted and then recorded by the deputies was especially scary because it was a small group of mostly women. She added that it would be unjust if they were issued citations when they kept their demonstration peaceful.
“We were not being physical. We were not being aggressive. We were chanting,” Dobbs said.
She and Guadian don’t believe they disrupted the meeting.
This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 5:03 PM.
