Mayoral race takes up immigration

Positions could anger Hispanic activists

By BRADLEY OLSON
Copyright 2009 Houston Chonicle
July 17, 2009, 9:42PM

The city's plans to step up cooperation with federal authorities in efforts to deport illegal immigrants is garnering new debate in the 2009 mayoral contest.

Latino advocates have pressed candidates to distance themselves from Mayor Bill White's request that Houston be allowed to participate in two federal programs that, at least within the confines of the city's jails, would put police officers in the immigration enforcement business.

While each of the four major candidates generally opposes diverting too many resources to immigration enforcement, they all support the thrust of the city's new effort to screen jail inmates and turn over suspected illegal immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Those positions could upset Latino activists in light of a recent Houston Chronicle story showing that only a small percentage of illegal immigrants processed for deportation in a similar Harris County program had committed serious felony crimes. The divide could be on display at a mayoral forum today.

“This has an impact on cooperation with law enforcement, reporting of crime, and folks participating in the census,â€